Iron Bonds
by Jax Solo
Summary: Two months after Stane's death, Tony thinks life's almost back to normal. At least, until his younger sister comes to town...mild Pepperony, movieverse, no owning of anything!
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

It was two months after Obidiah Stane's death when Pepper Potts gave a letter to Tony Stark, addressed with a jagged hand and sealed with a small sticker of some kind. Normally, she'd never ask her boss what was inside the letter, but his reaction sent Tony into a near rampage. He even ignored a manila envelope from SHIELD all because of that letter. Two days after the letter's arrival, Pepper dared ask him, "Tony, that letter you got....what was in it?"

Tony's initial reaction was a virtual shutdown in his face. She had asked him while he was fiddling with one of his cars, the blue convertible he had smashed after his first test flight, and Tony stopped so suddenly that Pepper was almost afraid his electromagnet had popped out all too suddenly and he was going into cardiac arrest like the time he'd asked her to trade the crystals out. Mercifully, though, he wasn't, but the silence meant he was phrasing an answer.

"If you really wanna know," he said not long later, "it was from someone I never thought I was gonna hear from again. Now she's on her way here." The she was what got Pepper on alert. If a woman was coming here, that usually meant Tony was planning on having a 'quiet' night. Then again, that had been before he had nearly died from one of his own missiles detonating in his face.

"Hence the guest room finally getting cleared out? She's not staying in?"

"Miss Potts, I would never invite a lady into my room unless I have been drinking and she is exceedingly gorgeous," Tony answered blithely. "And even then, I'd never have sex with a member of my own family."

That made Pepper even more shocked. Tony would never mention family except his father, and she had the idea that Tony wouldn't let any relatives come anywhere near his fancy Malibu home, much less the garage/lab underneath that housed the advanced AI robots that knew Tony's armor suit from the boots up. But she hid it all expertly, because it was her job. "I see. So, she's arriving when?"

"She was planning on today," Tony replied, setting his tools aside and standing up. Pepper's gaze momentarily latched onto the glowing blue electromagnet that kept Tony Stark alive and still giving hell to anyone who tried to mess with him. But she broke her gaze quickly while her boss went to his workstation and pulled out the rumpled paper of the letter. She drew a little closer as he unfolded the note inside and cleared his throat before reading, "Tony, I'm heading out there. Government papers giving me fiasco sorting, and it's your fault. Besides, things get lonely when all I've got are computers and nice big codes to hack...." Pepper gave Tony a half-smile as he paused to shake his head and mutter, "Yeah, she always tried to compete..."

"I can guess, genius," Pepper commented with a smirk. Tony glanced up at her with a bit of a smile before he looked back down at the letter. She would have sworn that, whoever had written this letter, she always, somehow, got Tony Stark to give up a genuine smile.

"Anyways, she says she's arriving in two days – today," he continued. Pepper knew he was jumping personal details, but he was allowed his privacy as much as he allowed her her own discretion in matters. "And she's coming into LAX sometime around noon." He straightened, looking instantly at Pepper. "What time is it?"

She consulted her watch. "Ten until eleven..."

"Dammit, and it'll take at least an hour to get –" Tony shot up immediately and leaped up the stairs. Pepper tried to scurry after him, but he was already off in his room to get cleaned up, so she just sighed and looked over to where Tony had left the letter. Glancing down to the bottom, she spotted the jagged signature: Andy.

Well, whoever Andy was, Pepper decided, she might have to take her out like all the rest of the trash that inconceivably ended up in the house. It came with the job.

------

**LAX International Airport, Los Angeles, California**

"Call Rhodey."

"He wouldn't be tracking jetliners just because you say so, Tony," Pepper chided. Tony looked a touch more snazzy than he usually did, wearing a crisp tan suit that was perfect for the oppressing southern California heat. He was also pacing impatiently, and Pepper tried not to reach for her cell phone to call Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes, or Rhodey as both he and Tony preferred, just so Tony could calm down.

"Her plane was supposed to be here by now! She said noon!"

"Maybe she was delayed?"

"DC doesn't do delays," Tony bit back sharply, but he did stop pacing. Pepper leaned against Tony's Audi, crossing her arms over her chest and watching him as he resumed his circuit. "Maybe she decided to take a train instead of fly....where's the nearest Amtrak?"

Pepper was about to answer him and then watch him jump into his Audi and roar away, but then Tony's cell phone started ringing. In two seconds it was open, and Tony had it pressed to his ear. "Andy?! Where in hell are you?!"

"Sorry, Tony!" Pepper could hear Andy's voice easily; the woman must've been shouting, if woman could be applied to the light, almost carefree air in it. "Yeah, that's why I'm callin'. You wouldn't believe how hard it was just to get a ticket, government hounds all over my back...I still blame you, it was your name heading the stuff."

"Just tell me where you are, Andy, you've already had me waiting here for two more hours than you said!" He sighed and shook his head, mouthing "twenty-somethings" at Pepper before talking into the phone again. "Look, which gate are you coming in at, I've got the car here and ready to rumble."

"I'm not taking a plane, you moron, I get airsick."

"No you don't. Fine, if you're not flying then what, you take the train?"

"Motion sickness."

"You don't get motion sick! All right, then what did you do to get out here?"

"My bike. I'm about five minutes out from your place....very classy, very chic. Mind not putting mansion mark two on a switchback road?"

"You're already at my house?!" Pepper had to hide a smirk; there was no denying the relationship, because both parties had high levels of sarcasm and stubbornness to match. Tony sighed in exasperation and came right up to the door of his car. "All right, when you get there, you can go inside, but stay in the main room, all right? Otherwise I'm taking it out of your part of the cash."

"Just you try! Bet I can hack your security and get at your precious hot rods!"

"All right, that's it. I'm gonna be there in ten minutes. If you so much as breathe in my garage, you're dead." Tony snapped the phone shut and sighed, putting a hand on his forehead.

"Trying times?" Pepper asked lightly as she started walking for the Bentley. He nodded as he glanced up, eyebrows high.

"That's the trouble with having Andy in the family," he sighed, "always trying to win."

"Sounds like someone we know..."

"Should. She's my sister."

Pepper didn't even have time to reply before Tony jumped into his Audi and fired off, engine roaring. With a sigh, she climbed into the Bentley. Boys and their toys....  
But Tony Stark had a sister. And he didn't seem like the brotherly type, not from first looks. As the car got underway, she wondered if it would be wise to ask Tony why he'd never mentioned it. Did he do anything for her birthdays? All she did was use some of Tony's money to buy something she wanted; did he send Andy money so she could buy something?

Then again, asking wasn't in the job parameters. And asking about a sister most certainly wasn't.

Tony Stark has a sister.

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Tony Stark has a sister.

"You're sure?"

"She sure left Washington in a big hurry. Didn't send any of the forms, either. Think she's trying to evade?"

"She hasn't filed taxes since she became legal. Been using her hacking skills to make the IRS not audit her. We should've expected that."

"But to go to Malibu? She's gotta be desperate."

"It's for her brother. Stark's distracted; didn't get our mission profile, supposedly."

"You suggesting that we...remind him of his priorities?"

"I'm just saying he needs to rearrange them."

"I agree. And maybe we can get some new help to go with it."

"Thinking of anybody in particular?"

"There's only one person I trust to refocus Stark. I'm going."

"But, sir –"

"I'm going, and that's it. Oh, and someone get me a gun. Flechette."

"There's a semi-new Stark model...if you want to go for irony, sir."

"Poetic. Highly poetic."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

The door was open when Tony Stark hit the brakes on his Audi hard, and he scowled as he stepped out and wrenched off his designer sunglasses before storming towards his own front door. He stopped short when he spotted Andy's new bike in the driveway, and backpedaled to get a look at it, dark eyes narrowing. It looked like some hybrid mixture of a Harley Davidson and motocross racebike, but Tony knew that one of his kid sister's dreams had come true in that bike. She'd been designing it since she was five.

Nostalgic memories didn't suit Tony at the moment though, so he faced his front door again and walked right inside, ears full of Andy's favorite song, Dream On. He staggered around the curved hallway, trying to plug his ears from the overly loud rock and finally got to Jarvis's control board and smacked it, summoning the AI valet.

"Jarvis!"

"You called, Mr. Stark?" Tony noted that Jarvis actually sounded dizzy; Andy must have gotten in, all right. "I must admit, Miss Stark lacks your modesty in fine-tuning your music to your location...."

"Can you turn the damn noise down and tell me where she is?" Tony barked, rubbing his forehead because the song only seemed to get louder. He'd gotten sick of 'Dream On' almost as soon as Andy had discovered it.

"I'm sorry, sir, but she's locked all audio control," Jarvis replied, sounding worse than ever. "She's very good at this, Mr. Stark."

"You bet she is," Tony mumbled as he started walking for the kitchen, scowling ever so slightly. There was only one way he was going to catch Andy's attention now, and he spotted the back end of baggy, dark blue denim jeans and a vintage shirt that had seen better days as vintage. Wavy black hair roiled down her shoulders, and Tony crossed his arms as he prepared to catch her attention. When people came to his house, they remembered it was his house.

"Andrea Jacqueline Stark! Get your face out of my refrigerator!"

Andrea Jacqueline Stark jumped, rather literally, a good four inches into the air before whirling around. The shirt was revealed to be a black tank top with a beige sweater shirt underneath, and the tank had a dreamcatcher painted across the front. Her scuffed black Doctor Martens boots squeaked when they hit the floor, leaving black marks on the otherwise pristine floor. In one arm was a black tablet laptop, a pre-MIT present from their father, and the other displayed a balled fist before Andrea Stark relaxed and looked at Tony lazily.

"I told you before you left that you weren't gonna call me that again. Jerk."

"You hacked my house and you're playing the one song you've driven me to hate with a passion too loud for a normal human being to listen to, now turn it off and get out of my butler's system." Andy cocked her head at him and brought her tablet in front of her before tapping at some on-screen buttons. The music immediately died, and Tony heard Jarvis quietly sigh with relief. "Don't hack my house."

For all appearance of disinterest, it was obvious that his kid sister was very impressed with his home. The black eyes roved around, absorbing the calming curves of the design and taking in the perfect ocean view framed in the huge windows. Tony took a moment to survey his sister, because it had been five years since they'd stood face-to-face, and that had been at their father's funeral. He remembered that she had worn all black, per decorum, but she never surrendered those stupid boots for smart heels that would have finished off the dress she had worn. He also remembered that her face had been fuller, and a slight bit more tanned.

Instead, though, Andy Stark had a slightly screen-bleached face half from being in a dark room most of her recent life and half from sitting before massive banks of computers at all hours, even when sleeping. She stood with a slight slump to the shoulders, but Tony knew that, when she was in a fighting mood, she would be standing proud at five-eleven without her boots. With them, she was as good as his height. Her cheeks were pinched and gaunt, but only slightly. Her business of hacking government systems to outthink the law must've been falling short recently.

"Fine, I won't hack the stupid butler. He was easy to get through, anyways. Hope you don't mind that I upgraded your lockout systems; I could've slept while getting through it."

"Don't tell me you changed the codes...."

"Those are your business. I remember when we played Password yours were always so stupid. And just because you made your first circuit board at four doesn't make you better than the average hacker."

"How's your business?"

"Slow. People are being honest with the feds these days, so the most fun I have is putting my audit charges on other folks. Speaking of feds, why did I get a registration package from homeland security? Putting me on the map isn't smart, Tony, and you're the only one I know with military ties that could give them that shit."

"Don't swear, it makes you ugly."

"Shut the hell up, Tony. I don't give a damn. Now, answer the question."

"Saw your bike outside."

"You're changing the goddamn subject again."

"Because now isn't the best goddamn time for it, Andy. Why're you here anyway?" She laughed with a sarcastic edge before she meandered around him and flopped onto a sofa, almost melting into the expensive Italian leather.

"Can't I visit my super-rich brother who wears an electromagnet in his sternum to keep shrapnel from one of his own missiles from killing him? I wanna see it, so, c'mon, take off the tie and jacket."

"No."

"You better do it, or the Weaver comes back on."

"Did I miss something?" Pepper asked as she came around the corner, looking annoyed even before she spotted Andy, at which point her expression melted into shock. Andy looked at Pepper, then back at Tony before thumbing over at her.

"You up to womanizing again? Who's she with, Newsweek? No, wait, the Newsweek girl was blond...."

"Andy....shut up," Tony growled, before taking a deep breath. Obviously, Pepper had been expecting someone more like him and less like a rebellious biker girl. "Pepper, my sister, Andrea Stark, Andy, my assistant, Pepper Potts."

"Oh, assistant. Stepping out of the seduction rut, are we? My, the world must be falling to pieces!" Andy laughed before she walked up to Pepper and stuck out her hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Potts. I can be a lady like my brother can be a gentleman, but we walk both sides of the line. He deals in deadly weapons, I deal in nasty bugs and viruses that make governments fall head over heels."

"You're...a geneticist?" Pepper asked, carefully shaking Andy's hand once and releasing it. Andy let out a bark of laughter before she splayed out on the sofa again. Tony closed his eyes to avoid the fact that she had a rather large amount of dirt on the back of her shirt as his sister leaned back.

"No, not the bodily kind. Computer viruses, the kind that can shut down missile defense systems, nationwide communications, the whole shebang. My own government is the testing ground." Pepper gave Tony a look that read, A government hacker?! He shrugged.

"All right, now that you've met, and you've gotten familiar with Jarvis," Tony said, looking around to spot the duffel Andy had to be carrying, "might as well get you settled into your room. If I could find –"

"I've already found my room, thanks, Tony. Mind if I put my bike in your garage?" Andy started trotting out, reaching into a pocket to get the keys, but Tony lunged, grabbing her shoulder and yanking her back. "Whoa, okay, guess not! What do you have down there, a secret laboratory for your next big weapons project?" It was a joke, it always was with Andy. He'd be lucky to survive a week with her around again. He gently took the keys and, before she could protest, Tony raised a hand.

"I don't want you breaking any of my cars, and I've got a work station down there. What, you think I'm going let you mess with it?"

"Of course not."

"Exactly. Now, you want anything, you either ask Jarvis or Miss Potts, don't leave the fridge hanging open again, and you do not go into my garage."

"You let me set up a new hub first. Good Stark CPUs, Mac configuration. And you let me at your workstation."

"First term, yes, second, no." Tony knew Pepper was getting a good lesson in Stark family life. It was always compromise, proposal and rejection. It had only escalated to war once. Andy frowned.

"Show me what's keeping you alive." Now it came to the staredown. She had proposed her terms, and now Tony had to either reject them and risk Andy wreaking havoc in Jarvis's matrix, not to mention mayhem in his garage, or accept and maintain the peace in his home. Tony held Andy's gaze in his for two solid minutes before he tugged off his jacket. Pepper watched silently, obviously taking mental notes in dealing with Andy, and Andy stepped back with a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Jarvis, call somebody in the tech department, tell them to send over four brand-spanking-new computers –"

"Five, Tony. I'm up to five at once now."

"All right, five shiny new computers, uploaded with Mac software, and a special hacker's package for each."

"I'll do that, sir. Shall I inform Procurement to put it in your name or Miss Stark's?"

"Put it in Andy's." The hacker in question had a huge smile on her face, and Tony gave her a half-smile before he started undoing the knot holding his tie in place. When his sister won out, he made sure she got exactly what she wanted and then some.

He tossed jacket and tie over onto a chair, and started unbuttoning his shirt. Not glancing up, he commented, "If you try and pull it out, I'll strangle you while I go into cardiac arrest."

"Multitasking? I never thought I'd see the day!" Tony rolled his eyes, until he undid one last button. He gently tugged the shirt a little way open, revealing the glowing blue-white structure in his chest. Andy's smile immediately vanished, and she slowly took a step closer to him. "Can I...?"

"Touch? Yeah, sure, what the hell. Just don't get shocked." Andy gave him a glare before gently running a finger around the device. For once, she seemed...sad, in a way. Tony waited for it when her fingertip brushed the edge of the device, and she yelped as she withdrew her finger and stuck it in her mouth. "I told you....."

"Powerful electromagnet," Andy commented around her finger; it sounded more like "ow'ul ectroagit". She pulled out her finger, surveyed the reddening tip, and added, "You threw that together in a cave with nothing more than a basic blacksmith's forge and lots of SI ammo?"

"This all while I was hooked up to a car battery, amazing, I know," Tony replied as he started buttoning his shirt back up. "Not to mention a few other fun projects."

"Maybe you can tell me all about it sometime, eh? Now, I'm telling you...you be nice to my bike. I only just got it out of the shop a couple days ago, and I'll even let you fiddle with it. But if you even think about putting one of your vee-eight engines on it, I'll come down there and tear apart one of yours." Andy was already back behind her façade of indifference, and she floated out for her room. Pepper walked up to him and watched as Andy closed the door.

"Sister, huh?"

"I wondered if she was adopted when I was younger." Tony kept his gaze on the door, flicking the keys around his finger absently. Yes, Andy had changed. She used to joke whenever the mood required it, bargain when the opportunity arose, and stand her ground for what she believed in, even if it was the dumbest thing. But now she hid behind a mask very much like his: a shield of sarcasm and indifference to hide something painful. He knew what he wanted to separate himself from. He wouldn't be surprised if it was the same thing that his kid sister was hiding from.

But if it wasn't, then who was Andy Stark hiding from? And why?

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Andrea Stark had succeeded in hiding herself very well in her brother's home. She had managed to upgrade the security lockouts, make Stark's AI butler entirely unhackable, and mask her signal in the usual electronic comings and goings of the Stark household. But for all her reprogramming and Stark's already formidable security system, there was one weakness.

Stark himself was in town, testing out Andrea's motorcycle. That meant he probably wouldn't return for awhile. The lights were out in the assistant's room, and the younger Stark's room was also darkened. This would be the perfect time to get inside.

Quietly, he crept across the rocks, long dark coat swaying in the mild sea breeze. On his back rested a long, slim rifle that, if the target was unwise, would puncture several critical wounds with a badly placed chest shot. But he wasn't so lazy. Even if the flechette didn't work as planned, there were other weapons he had on his person. He wasn't so stupid as to walk into the home of Anthony Stark entirely unarmed; he also had two high-caliber pistols and a knife up each sleeve.

He reached the open ramp down into the garage, and the dimmed lights slowly came up. He counted no less than five or six sports cars arranged down the wall of the garage, while a workstation complete with holographic displays rested close to the access door. Stark was picky about his workstation, so he noted as he passed it and made a beeline for the stairway up into the main house. All was dark, quiet...asleep. Good; it would make his job easier.

He settled on a clean white chair, resting his flechette against an armrest. Instead of sitting, however, he pulled out two long strips of black cloth, and gingerly wrapped the ends of one about each of his hands before creeping towards the first bedroom. Pepper Potts would have screamed had he not latched a cold gaze onto her, and he quickly gagged her and sat her coolly into a long sofa. Then he wrapped the second one around his hands and started for the closed door that would lead him to the younger Stark.

Instead of being met with the darkness of the room, he was met with a hard punch in the face that sent him crashing back into a wall, while Stark jumped over him and ran for Potts, black hair streaming out after her. Before she could either free Potts, or escape herself, he sat up and hurled a knife, which, although not causing any harm, did pin the fraying cuff of her jeans to the floor. Stark whirled, tugging at her pants and swearing, but it gave him the time to get up and get the gag back and ready.

"You bastard," Stark snarled at him, black eyes flashing mercilessly. He could see the family resemblance, not to mention the dirty tongue. He snapped the gag a little, and brought it around into her mouth, despite that Stark had grabbed at the gag and was trying to rip it out. He tied it off and pulled out a roll of duct tape to bind her hands, and, soon, Stark was seated defiantly next to Potts. He sheathed the knife and picked up the flechette. He may have been short an eyeball, but he was still a very good, and very deadly, shot.

"You ladies are going to have to help me persuade Mister Stark as to his priorities...and setting the Avenger initiative at the forefront," he said, ever so calmly sitting down in the chair he had staked out. Potts caught Stark's eye, and the both seemed to share a bit of a nonverbal communication. In response, he loaded the flechette, making both women jump. "That's better. Now....all we have to do is wait for Mister Stark's return."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Tony was about halfway back to the house when his cell phone rang rather inconveniently. Mercifully, though, he was able to pull over and dredge out his phone from the pocket of his rarely-worn denim jeans. He rather liked Andy's creation, to be honest; even the wimpy six-cylinder engine could pull a good turn of speed, unless Andy had some secret way of making it go as fast as one of his V8 engines.

Once he stepped off the bike and pulled out his phone, however, he already had an idea of who it might have been. The voice he heard on the other end most certainly wasn't who he was expecting.

"Sorry, Mister Stark. Neither your sister or Miss Potts are available right now."

"Fury," Tony answered coldly. Nick Fury was the head of SHIELD, and the one who had gotten him knee-deep in some nasty stuff. "I thought you said you would never call me, you bastard."

"Funny thing, that. You totally ignored the mission profile we sent two days ago."

"I was busy. Personal matters kicked up."

"Would those personal matters involve your sister's unwillingness to file the registration papers we sent her? She has to fill them out if she wants to be safe, Stark."

"She's a hacker, Fury. Anything that gives away her position is a threat. That's why she came to me, now let. Them. Go." Tony's other hand was already balled into a fist, and it started cracking when he heard Fury laugh. He could make out the sounds of someone struggling in the background; it had to be Andy or Pepper.

"Sorry, Tony, but that's not how it works. See, you have to rethink your situation. I hold the two people most convenient hostage, in your own house, and I'm very capable of killing one or both. Your sister's proving troublesome, so she might go first." Tony was already straddling the bike, eyes narrowing as he revved the engine. "If you want to ensure their safety, I suggest you come back home and tell me yourself that your dedication to SHIELD is still at its usual level." A click, and Tony snapped the phone shut.

Fury had broken into his house. He'd taken Pepper and Andy prisoner, and now Fury had taken his rush to get his sister settled safely in his home as willful ignorance to the Avenger initiative he'd been shanghaied into pushing after Stane's death. The fact that Fury had gotten through his security again was enough to get him twirked, but Fury had made it personal by holding his assistant and sister prisoner. Now Tony was very, very mad.

The bike roared through LA, a lot faster than it had before, he thought, and it wasn't long later than he rode the bike down the curved ramp into his garage. Tony killed the engine and ran to the stairs, bounding up two at a time until he skidded to a halt at the top, facing his living room. Sitting on opposite ends of the sofa were Pepper and Andy, both gagged with long black strips of cloth and bound with duct tape around their wrists and, in Andy's case, ankles. Pepper spotted Tony first, eyes widening, and Andy caught sight of him next. Both were afraid, he knew it.

There was a dark-skinned and black-clothed man sitting across from them in a blatant act of defiance to Tony's arrangement of his own furniture. Tony stood deathly still as the white-upholstered chair turned, revealing its occupant: Nick Fury, the leader of SHIELD and the man pushing the Avenger initiative. Tony had joined it after Fury had approached him, and had regretted that decision ever since. Tony glanced at the slim-barreled weapon in one of Fury's hands: a Stark Industries flechette rifle, which had the capability to fire twenty tiny spears of steel into a living target. The military population called it a 'mini Jericho', referring to the massively powerful Jericho missile system he had revealed in Afghanistan what felt like a lifetime ago.

"Mister Stark, I'm glad you could join us," Fury began graciously, smiling cordially. Tony's scowl didn't lighten at the man he had considered a close thing to a friend.

"Cut the crap, Fury. I'm here now. Let them go," he snarled. Andy shook her head minutely, and he started when Fury lazily pointed the barrel at her. His sister squeezed her eyes shut in fright, shaking. Pepper inched towards her, unthreateningly, and put her bound hands on Andy's shoulder, trying to calm her. The flechette barrel lowered again, leaving the women safe for the time being.

"I'm sorry, Tony," Fury said, not sounding sorry at all, "but you rated a criminal who wouldn't at least present herself to us above your obligation to SHIELD. If I were you, I would have made her fill out all her registration forms before coming out here."

"What in hell makes you even think you've got a right to threaten me whenever you want?"

"It's just part of business, Tony. You made a big commitment, not something you can drop off because of a family annoyance." Fury lowered the flechette again, and Tony looked over at Pepper and Andy. Just looking at their fear, their worry...it made him feel like he had been shoved into a corner with no way out. "Now, you've got a job to do. Get to the East Coast in two days' time, and I'll consider letting you off the hook when you get back in a week."

"Why in two days, Fury? Why not four or five?"

Fury didn't even move his gaze. Within the space of two seconds, a lot of things happened. Tony lurched forward, trying to shove the flechette out of Fury's hands, distract him from the women. Andy shoved Pepper away, eyes wide with horror, getting her out of the line of fire. Pepper ended up sliding off the sofa, bound arms protecting the back of her neck from any ricocheting shards. Nick Fury pulled the trigger of the flechette.

Tony had designed the rifle to fire silently, for optimum stealth operations. He couldn't even hear the faint t-thunk of the discharge as he collided with Fury's elbow, sending the rifle askew, but barely enough to move the scattering bolts. But what Tony Stark did hear was a muffled mixture of a yelp and a groan, and, once he had pinned Fury to the floor, he whirled, looking, hoping that it wasn't what he thought it was.

Andy was laid flat against the sofa, breathing erratically through her nose, hands struggling to get free of their bonds so she could get the gag out. The left side of her chest was slowly spreading red, even through the double layer of clothing. Time froze again, and Tony could almost see the burning hot sands when his convoy had been attacked, see the missile that had detonated and caused him to need an electromagnet to keep the shrapnel from puncturing his heart. But this wasn't Afghanistan, there had been no missile. This was his home, it had been a gun he'd designed that had been fired. And now his sister was paying the price.

He rushed to her, tugging off the gag. Tony was shocked that his vision was blurring; he hadn't cried in recent memory, but he shoved the thought aside and looked at Andy. Her eyes were wide, her breath was coming in short, quick gasps. Tony shushed her, cradled her head before she finally looked at him, unfocused and very close to glazing over.

"Tony....." she panted, blinking back pain or tears or even just fending off death with every breath, "he shot...me....he shot me.....Tony....."

"It's okay, Andy," he told her, "you're – you're gonna be okay." She forced a snicker.

"No.....got me....in the chest....."

"Two days to save her life, Stark," Fury said coldly, putting the flechette back on his shoulder. Tony didn't look at him, else he do something stupid that would waste precious time, time that Andy wouldn't have. "Then you've got a week for the mission." Fury turned and departed as silently as he had most likely come, and Tony gently kissed Andy's forehead before resting her back and quickly freed Pepper.

"Downstairs, now," he said as he helped Pepper get to her feet before turning back to Andy. "We'll have to work fast, and I don't care how much blood you see, but you have to help me."

"I should have done something, Tony.....I'm sorry," Pepper said as Tony lifted Andy up from the sofa. A lone tear chased down his face, and Andy moaned faintly, bringing Tony's attention back to the present.

"There wasn't anything you could've done, Pepper," Tony answered, shaking his head. "Now, come on, those bolts need to get out before she looses too much blood." He went downstairs as quickly as he could, trying not to shake Andy too much, but her cries of pain aroused Jarvis.

"Mr. Stark! What happened? Miss Stark seems to be suffering extreme blood loss."

"I know that, Jarvis!" Tony yelled as he carefully laid Andy down on the surgical bed, and a few robotic arms edged down. Pepper was behind him, and he quickly turned. "Call Rhodey, get him to send over a doctor or somebody, fast! Jarvis, bring down any medical arms you've got!" Pepper scrambled away to get a phone, and a few arms from above presented fine-tuned extraction instruments. Tony put a hand on Andy's face, and she took his wrist.

"Don'....don' worry 'bout me, Tony..." she hissed, face pale and getting cold fast. "Kinda......deserve it....."

"You do not deserve to die, you stupid computer nerd," Tony shot right back, fighting back tears. Andy smiled a little.

"How....many times.....s'it gonna take?"

"Take for what, Andy?"

"To....not call me a stupid nerd....." She coughed, and yet still managed to make it sound like a chuckle. "I'm...." She trailed off, eyes fluttering, and her grip weakened. Tony looked up at the robotic arms, and saw that they were inching closer. Tony closed his eyes, took a halting breath, and pulled his hand away.

"Jarvis...start pulling the shards out," he said, before turning to his workbench. "I have my sister to save."

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Two days later, Pepper was in the garage, clutching her organizer. Rhodey was there, watching with reasonable envy as Tony was getting his suit locked in place. Whatever Tony had done to save Andy's life, she hadn't awakened since the work had started, and Tony himself wasn't looking pleased.

"Rhodey, I got a big favor to ask you."

"If getting a doc down here to get the life support equipment doesn't count as a favor, I don't know what is," Rhodey laughed, despite the serious situation. Tony's expression lightened for a bare second as the robotic arms that the night previous had been stained with Andy's blood, digging out the tiny bolts that threatened her life, drew back, their primary task completed. Tony stepped down from the platform, his mask raised, dark eyes betraying no emotion. Pepper had never seen him like this before, not even after his father died.

"Could you put some guards around the house, with dogs and big guns? 'Cause, if he can get in, then God knows what else already has." Rhodey nodded a little before glancing at Andy, the monitor beeping steadily.

"Intruder-free house, courtesy United States Air Force, done. If it makes you feel even better, I'll put myself in here on a twenty-four-seven basis."

"Not needed, Rhodey. Besides, I only have the three bedrooms, how're you gonna sleep?"

"You've got a nice leather sofa I can crash on..." Pepper decided it would be wise to not mention the fact that Andy had bled all over it and Jarvis had had to replace it at what wasn't too much drain on the Stark finances. Tony smirked and shook his head.

"Nah, that's all right, Rhodey. I actually rather like the idea of not having more than three people in my house, especially when one is my sister." Tony clamped the mask down, and the blue lights that allowed Iron Man to see glowed to life. "See you in a few days." He marched over to the hole he had perfected into his launch tube, and the rockets in Iron Man's boots activated and hurtled him up and out of sight.

"Sister, huh?" Rhodey asked Pepper, and she laughed, shaking her head. Rhodey was always looking for some way to gain leverage with Tony. Pepper escorted Rhodey back upstairs, and the lieutenant colonel gave her a brisk wave before he got into his SUV and drove off, back to Los Angeles. She sighed and walked back inside, closing the door behind her.

"Miss Potts, would you like some water?" Jarvis asked her as she headed down for the garage. She faced the replaced access pad and tapped in her code, smiling faintly.

"That's a good idea, Jarvis, in case Miss Stark comes around, thank you."

"You're very welcome, Miss Potts." The water would most likely appear in a few minutes, held by one of the robotic arms before being placed on the table next to Andy's unconscious form. Pepper sighed and pulled a swiveled stool up next to the bed, watching Andy.

Andrea Stark was a mystery to Pepper, even more so that Tony was. Now, she realized, they were even closer because of their near-death experiences. Like so many times with Tony, Andy preferred dodging personal matters, using excuses or a deft change of subject. She spoke with an eternal edge of sarcasm, an invincibility that dared the world to defy the genius of the Stark family. And now, they were both kept alive by electromagnets.

Because of the short span of time, her brother had only had time to prepare the base for the final product, the one that kept him alive without worrying about a lapse in power. For the charge level, he had resorted to the crude method he had had to live with for a week in a cave in Afghanistan: a simple wire-spun electromagnet powered by a car battery. Pepper could almost visualize Tony walking around the terrorist camp, clutching the battery that kept him volts from death, and it brought a smile to her face imagining it.

The requested glass of water chinked on the table as a robot laid it there, and Pepper edged it closer to Andy, in case the younger woman was thirsty when she awoke. Gently, Pepper took Andy's hand and sighed. "You and him....so much the same, now in one more way."

"Oh please...." came a low reply, startling Pepper as Andy's obsidian black eyes cracked open. "Him and me....not alike at all."

"Then how do you explain that electromagnet embedded in your chest appearing after you were shot in the chest?" Pepper quipped, getting Andy's eyes to snap open completely. Pepper quickly drew her hand back and got to her feet as Andy looked around in anxiety before looking down. Her eyes widened at the sight of two wires, black and red, attached to her chest and trailing over the side of her bed and reappearing on a strong car battery that would keep Andy alive for a week, long enough for Tony to do his job and get back.

"Holy shit....I thought the story about him living off a battery was a complete lie...what happened after I passed out?"

"Well," Pepper began, trying to figure out how to explain that Andy's brother had been forced to do half a job in two days before having to go work for the man that had shot her in the first place, "Tony carried you down here, the both of us – not to mention Jarvis – dragged out some of the bigger bits that dug into you, and Tony pulled together the lower half of the glowing version installed on him. Of course, by then he had maybe five hours left before Fury brought all hell down on him, so he had to improvise."

"But a car battery? He could've been more creative than that..." Andy started sitting up, but before Pepper could push her back, two robotic arms soared down from above and shoved her back into the bed. "Hey! I should be able to walk around on my own, Jarvis!"

"Mister Stark warned me you would say that," Jarvis replied coolly, and Pepper had to hide a smile as she sat back down as the AI continued, "And he also mentioned that, were you to want to move around, he recommended not leaving the garage level. The stairs would purportedly affect your balance and would not be the best idea while you are still on life support."

"Does life support translate to car battery?"

"Ironically, it does." Andy scowled, but didn't move to sit up again. The robotic arms pulled back, and Pepper leaned in to Andy conspiratorially.

"Jarvis gets protective when someone gets hurt. It got reflected in one of the robots Tony programmed later."

"I figured," Andy grumbled, gingerly rubbing a space of her chest above the magnet. "But at least I have clearance to move." She spared a glance up at the ceiling and added, "Right?"

"Of course, Miss Stark. But if you require food or drink, please ask instead of going yourself," Jarvis answered. Andy nodded and threw the covers off, revealing her dark, grit-stained pants. Pepper was relieved to note that the black camisole that logically had been under Andy's sweater was deep enough to show the magnet, but revealed nothing else. Pepper also noted that she was skinnier in skintight clothes than seemed reasonable, but she spotted the wiry shoulders under the thin straps and decided to not mess around with Andy if they were threatened again.

Slowly, the younger woman swung her legs around and sat for a few seconds, hands gripping the edge of the bed. It was obvious where he gaze was centered: the battery upon which her life hung until Tony returned. With a sigh, Andy shook her head. "I never thought I'd ever be dependent on such a simple bit of machine to keep me alive."

"You won't be, not for long," Pepper assured her with experience. "When he gets back, Tony – Mister Stark will make the top portion, and you'll be able to live as normally as it can get around here." Andy looked at her curiously.

"Why do you sometimes call Tony by his name and sometimes Mister Stark? I get why Jarvis does it...but why you? You and him have been together for ages now, right?"

"It's part of my job," Pepper excused quickly. It was one that came often and easily. "Have you ever heard him call me Pepper?"

"Can't say I have..."

"Professional distance. I help him, he doesn't lose the company from his own short attention span, and he lets me into his account for my birthday." Andy chuckled as she turned around to face her, a rare smile on her face. Another something exactly like Tony: the rarity of a smile, and the powerful humanity it revealed to go along with it.

Andy exhaled and stood up, staying balanced even as she reached for 'her' battery and tucked it firmly against her abdomen. It was a comical picture, and Pepper had to smother another laugh, but Andy caught her and smirked. "Looks funny, doesn't it? I better make together a sling for this, because I can't do anything if I have to keep holding this thing." Before Pepper could assent to that, Andy was already seated before the advanced computers of Tony's workstation, spinning on the chair for five revolutions before dragging herself up to the engineer's keyboard and prodded at it. "So this is what he didn't want me to get at! Ooh, look at all this fun stuff..."

Pepper picked up the glass of water and drained it; if Andy didn't need it, she certainly did. Only after she set it back down did Andy bring up some familiar schematics, only familiar to Pepper because she had seen the real thing vanish not all that long ago. Andy gaped openly.

"Whoa...what has my brother been up to since his excursion to the desert? I remember that the press had a field day when he came out as Iron Man..." The tri-dee display of the suit appeared from the projector, and Andy scooted toward it, battery settled between her legs as she spun the design around, looking it over critically. "Well, he may like being a walking assault vehicle, but stealth is a way cooler approach to all this..." Andy started prodding at the diagram, getting used to the poke and drag feature before she had removed all the weaponry and began bringing up other options. Pepper watched skeptically before she decided that it would be smart to rearrange Tony's schedule again, and started heading upstairs until she heard Andy call for Jarvis.

"Yes, Miss Stark?"

"Jarvis, when I'm finished with this, make a ghost file, put my initials on it, and put the design in it. I'm gonna have fun with this!"

"Wouldn't it be wiser to consult your brother first before you alter his armor suit design?"

"It's not his I'm altering. I'm basing my own off of the bare-bones. What's the point of having a super-efficient electromagnet powering my life if I can't have as much fun as he does?"

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself up to, miss."

"Jarvis, Tony Stark is my brother. I know exactly what I'm getting myself into."

Yes, if Pepper had needed any more confirmation that Andy was Tony Stark's sister, she'd just received it. Remembering what Tony had said two days ago, she muttered under her breath, "Let the competition begin."

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"Andy? Andy, where are you?" Ten year old Tony Stark padded quietly through the house, looking for his sister. It had been a week to the day that Mom had died, and Dad had told Tony that they had to get dressed in the nicest dark clothes they had, because they were going to go say good bye to Mom before they buried her. Tony was halfway done, wearing the crisp clean pants and fancy shirt, but not in his shoes and the little tie Dad had said to wear wasn't knotted yet, but he hadn't seen his sister anywhere that morning.

She had been there at breakfast; he knew it, because she had asked Dad why they had to wear dark clothes. He had told her, 'It's part of saying goodbye to her. Dressing up shows respect, and dressing dark shows that we loved her, and we'll miss her.' Then she had vanished, not even coming down for lunch, because the funeral was going to be in the evening, right as the sun was going down. Tony had already checked Andy's room, the black dress that Dad had picked out hanging on her closet door, and glanced quickly into the secret space in the attic the two of them had discovered. It was one of the fun things about living in such a big house: there was always someplace new to explore.

Tony paused outside his bedroom, in case Andy had hid in there. Then he stopped outside Dad's office. Dad's bedroom. Their play room, filled with building blocks and toys and everything two bright children like them would play with. Tony liked the garage better, where he'd put together his first V8 two years ago. Andy's corner of the room was littered with paper, drawing up a motorcycle that she swore to let him help her build, but she'd shot down using another eight-cylinder for it. He was about to give up, thinking Andy had run away, when he heard sniffling from Mom's room. She had insisted on having it, because she hated Dad's snoring every night. He straightened, coal-black eyes sparkling, and he trotted to the door, poking his head through the doorway.

He had been ready to find her in one of the hiding places they'd agreed on when playing hide-and-seek: under the bed, in the closet, even in one of Mom's trunks that she rarely used. But he didn't. Instead, Tony saw his sister, five year old Andrea Stark, sprawled out on top of the bed, face buried in one of Mom's pillows, sobbing. His entire plan to surprise her and run to his room before the full assault began faded, and he quietly walked inside.

"Andy? Andy, are you okay?"

"Why did Mom leave?" she asked, not shifting to look at him. "She didn't hafta go! She had us and Daddy and the house and Jarvy and...." Andy sniffled again, and Tony quickly bounded onto the bed, trying to roll her over. Andy took the pillow with her, so Tony grabbed up his own and smacked her with it. She didn't seem to notice the summons to a pillow fight, so he hefted the pillow again and whacked her. Andy didn't do anything, so Tony tossed the pillow aside and yanked at the one in Andy's grip. It gave way easily, but Andy tried to roll away. Tony quickly got on top of her, pinning her to the bed.

His kid sister's eyes were red from crying, her black hair a mess. Semi-clear trails of wetness ran from her eyes down her cheeks and even dribbled down her neck. Tony was scared to see Andy like this, and so he sat her up like a rag doll and hugged her tight. Andy never ever cried, she was always the one who led him into fantastic imaginary adventures as they roved through the house. She hugged him back, and she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Master Stark? Miss Andy?" Both of them jumped at the sound of the voice of the family butler, Jarvis, so close to the door. Andy grabbed Tony's arm and dragged him behind and under the bed, and the duo watched the door. But the door didn't open; presumably Jarvis had been summoned by Dad, giving them a few more minutes.

"Tony....I don' wanna say bye to Mom," Andy muttered, fighting back more tears. "I want her to come home."

"But, Andy...I don't think she could." Tony didn't want to hammer it in that Mom was dead; he didn't want to make his sister even worse than she already was. All their wars were play wars, and no matter how much they argued they were always as close as they figured twins would be. "C'mon, let's get out of here and get you dressed before Dad or Jarvy get worried." They scrambled out from under the bed, and Tony brushed off dust from his pants while Andy giggled.

Once they returned to Andy's room, Tony had to not only figure out how to tie off her dress, but how to get his tie in place. Andy helped him as best she could with that, and soon they were ready. They had pulled out some toy soldiers to fend off boredom when the door was knocked on, and the gray-haired Jarvis poked his head through the door. "Master Tony, Miss Andy, your father has been looking for you! You two look a sight!"

"Jarvy...!" Andy protested as he came inside and whirled her around, fixing the ribbon in the back. Jarvis soon turned his attention to Tony, and the boy nearly choked when the tie was set to rights. Tony yanked at it so it would loosen, and felt better for it before Jarvis herded them out the door and down the stairs

When they got to the cemetery, Andy nearly broke into tears again, but Tony thrust his hand into hers and squeezed it tight. She squeezed it back, just as tight. In his mind, when they lowered Mom's body into the grave, he made Andy a promise.

I won't ever let anybody hurt you like this. Never ever, because I'm supposed to take care of you. I'm your big brother, and I'll always be there to save you.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

As Iron Man descended down the launch tube he'd left by five days later, he was surprised to see that his garage wasn't in disarray, and, what was better, nothing seemed out of place with his workstation. Maybe he ought to have trusted Andy with the stuff down here in the first place.

"Welcome home, sir," Jarvis said in his ear as Iron Man stepped onto the concealed platform that rose slightly and stood still enough to let Tony Stark emerge from the metallic shell with the help of the robotic arms that put him in the thing in the first place. "Shall I assume that this most recent job proved successful?"

"Eh, sort of," Tony answered as he stepped off the platform, rolling his shoulders back. "What's been going on around here?"

"Miss Andrea has been rather busy. She took it upon herself to enhance the security systems for the house, and even updated several of my own systems."

"Any harm done to my collection?"

"No, sir, she stayed only to her bike and the workstation computers. She has recovered enough that she has been initializing the five computers you requested in her room for the past forty-eight hours." Tony was surprised by two things: that Andy had recovered that fast, and that she hadn't gone digging in the computers for the schematics of his suit. If she ever laid her hands on that, Tony just knew that Andy would thirst to improve it in her own way.

"Well, that's good. She still upstairs?"

"Yes, sir."

"Right, I'll see how she's doing, then." Tony opened the door and jumped up the stairs before making the turn around towards Andy's room, before nearly running over Pepper. "Miss Potts!"

"Mister Stark! Um, I – we weren't expecting you until..."

"Business got done faster than I thought," Tony said quickly, noting that Pepper had her red-gold hair down, framing her fine, porcelain-like face. He cleared his throat and glanced down at the floor for the barest fraction of time before asking, "How's Andy doing?"

"A lot better than she was," Pepper answered. "She's already kind of used to the battery, and she's kept herself busy. Those five computers sent her over the moon when they arrived." Tony chuckled, imagining exactly how much fun Andy would have once she found out exactly why he'd asked for the hacking packages. Pepper continued, "I'll even go so far as to say that I'm now decidedly certain she is your sister."

"What, did you need to run a blood test or something?"

"She's already conjured up a competition. She was working almost night and day on it; both Jarvis and I had to threaten her that we'd unplug her from the battery if she didn't get some rest."

"Well, we're just going to have to see about that," Tony said before easing past Pepper and wandering into Andy's room; lair seemed to fit better as he crossed the threshold.

The first thing he noticed was the music. Instead of Dreamweaver, as he would have expected, it was a new thing, from one of those American Idol kids. Usually, he didn't pay attention to the show, but this song wasn't half bad. He then noticed that the only light in the room came from either a desk lamp in a corner or a pentagon of computer screens, broken just wide enough to allow a swivel chair to glide back and forth between nexuses. The bed had been shoved under the window, barely cracked open to allow in the afternoon light, and the master of the lair was settled between the computer nexus and the door.

"So, a guy shoots me nearly dead and you go off to do his bidding instead of kicking his ass into the next world war only after hooking me up to a battery? Real great job jumping both sides of the aisle, there," Andy snarked, cradling the battery between her legs.

"You still would've died," Tony answered, crossing his arms. "I'd think you should be more grateful."

"Grateful enough to wire me up halfway, sure. Grateful for my new hub, plus the newfound ability to explore your garage. I don't like that guy who treats you like dirt, and treats those of us who care for you like worse." Andy pushed back, gliding the chair smoothly back to what looked like an already well-worn track through the carpet and shifted direction into the nest of computers. "And as the new security majordomo –"

"Whatever made you think that? I save your life and now you take upon yourself to take over my own security system?!"

"Have you no faith in your sister?" Andy queried, not glancing up from one of the monitors while she clattered away at another one. "If I weren't here now, your system would have suffered no less than fifty separate attempts to breach your pitiful excuse of a firewall, and more than eighty percent would have broken in and downloaded any files they so wished. Lousy and lazy, two things I never thought you would be."

"Are you going to upgrade the company's firewalls, too?"

"If I do, you're footing the bill for letting me look at your pretty top secret projects for the military, brother dear." She tapped away at the keyboard before scooting off for another one. Tony would have counted it as a dismissal if it hadn't been for the tempting drawings pinned on the wall above the desk, and more sketches littering the top. Quietly, hoping that he wasn't interfering with any grand and daring hacking business that would send the national government into internal chaos, Tony walked for the desk, wondering what Andy was getting up to now.  
He barely had two seconds to look at one before Andy's voice cut across the room warningly. "Don't look, don't touch, and when I'm done talking you leave. Got it?"

"Looks like you're entering my territory," he commented smoothly, stepping back and looking over at Andy. In the bluish light of the monitors, she looked older and more wasted away than ever. "Just curious."

"Go be curious someplace else, would you? Thanks." Tony knew a dismissal when he heard it, and so retreated from the dark room. He wondered if the sketches had anything to do with the competition Pepper had mentioned, and Tony fended off a sigh. Just like Andy to start up a new project when he least expected, and he had a pretty good idea as to what it was.

He was so preoccupied he nearly ran over Pepper again, but now she looked agitated. "Miss Potts, your frustration entirely ruins your complexion, you realize this?"

"If you're offended by the way I look when you have a large function to go to in less than two hours, I can just as easily quit," Pepper threatened, and Tony was rapidly and sharply cut to the quick. How could he function without Pepper keeping his schedule and entire daily life intact when he was busy with Avenger and then generic superhero-ing while he was at it? His world would fall apart without Pepper at his side, staving off the chaos. He attempted to look penitent, and Pepper, it seemed, accepted his silent apology. "But, yes, you've got another one of those annoying little society functions, eight thirty sharp."

"You know I hate time restrictions…."

"That's how it works in the real world, Tony. I recommend you get used to it quickly."

"Or?"

"Or I could quit."

"I'll get changed." He started heading for his room when Pepper called after him.

"Shouldn't you finish assuring your sister's life span first?"

Tony stopped dead in his tracks, cold flooding his veins. Andy would rightly lockdown his home at will if he didn't assure her life wasn't going to end because of a dead battery. With a sigh, he doubled back and gave Pepper a half-hearted smirk. "Pushing some unified superhero front actually didn't take up the whole time I was away, thanks, Miss Potts. Arc-reactor's about halfway done, just needs some final tightening before we get it all hooked up. Lemme get dressed first, huh?" Pepper smiled, and Tony halfway returned it.

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Tony managed to coax Andy out of her nest an hour later, graciously carrying the battery for her. Andy flicked her black hair over her shoulder as he led the way downstairs, eyeing it critically. "I wanna get a haircut."

"Why? It looks pretty that way, you've always had your hair long."

"No one else I know has long hair. Besides, it could get tied up and tangled easily if I got it caught in something." Tony dropped the battery on a table nearby the medical table, while Andy sat down, leaning back on the bed, watching Tony warily. "So, big event, eh? I get a shrunk-down version of the big reactor that went boom some months ago, extending my life to its normal state. And the stupid thing won't die sometime in the middle."

"That's the point, and my own safety net hasn't died yet," Tony answered. He was almost done getting dressed for the charity event SI was co-sponsoring, shirt hanging loose and bow tie resting around his neck, but when he reached into the drawer where he kept one last spare arc-reactor, it was with both the tenderness of a craftsman revealing his masterpiece and the same of a brother showing off his precious favorite toy. He had been almost done before Fury had come calling, but the final touches had been accomplished in the last half an hour or so. The faint, blue-white glow illuminated his hands before he sent it next to the battery, returning his attention to Andy, who stared entranced at the power source that would keep her alive for the rest of her lifetime.

"Well, a pretty little thing. Can I classify it as an accessory when I have to declare stuff going overseas?"

"You always have to make it all a joke, don't you? You want to die in about a day?"

"No, so plug me in already." Tony shook his head; Andy was hopeless when it came to being serious. To staunch anymore wisecracks, he reached over and gently yanked out the upper part of the electromagnet. Andy fell silent as her eyes widened in fright as Tony laid it aside before picking up the arc reactor, shoving it into place before Andy started going into cardiac arrest. She looked from the reactor now in her chest to Tony before looking back at the reactor. "That hurt."

"No, it didn't."

"Yes, it did. The shrapnel was digging back in, you moron." Tony was about to fire off with a retort before Jarvis swiftly interrupted.

"Mister Stark, Miss Potts has asked me to remind you that you have an event scheduled in twenty minutes and that you need to finished getting dressed." Tony bit back a swear and quickly started finishing up his shirt. Andy got out of the bed and rapped at the electromagnet experimentally, examining it. It was placed higher on her chest than Tony's was, only because if it had been placed exactly so, it would rest between nature's feminine charms and Tony wasn't thrilled to think that his sister would take on his pre-Afghanistan nature.

"All right, Andy, you'll get run of the house, because Pepper and I are going out –"

"Nuh uh, no way am I staying behind while you guys have all the fun!" Andy retorted, setting hands on her hips. "Besides, I've made up a new friend for Jarvis, who'll be our final line of defense in case folks do manage to break in."

"Two AIs in one household?"

"Mina stays confined to my room unless there isn't any person of the household actually in the house," Andy explained. "And I have to give Jarvis an override code so they can switch control easily. Another code returns Mina to my room."

"You've already named it?"

"Yes, I did, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get changed. Oh, Jarvis?"

"Yes, Miss Andrea?"

"First, don't call me Andrea. Second...override code Sigma Jay Double-Too, confirmation Numeral Six Seven Four." Tony was about to speak, but Andy raised a finger as she dropped her arms, watching the ceiling. He watched it, too, and, a few minutes later, there was a sigh, a feminine sigh. How hard would it have been to program up a male AI instead of another woman?

"Artificial Intelligence transfer complete," a new voice said, in a British accent that oddly reminded Tony of Keira Knightley. "Security program Mina enacted. Hello, Andy. You weren't wrong about this place being a standing security hazard...."

"Hey, private chat, there, Mina, get used to holding those back," Andy chided, but smirking in a way that told Tony that she felt like she had beaten him. Again. "All right, Mina, Tony, Pepper and I are going out on the town, so when we're gone, you manage the house."

"Any particular security requests?"

"Nope, just do what you think best. Oh, and if any military guys come around, don't kill them." Andy tossed Tony a two-fingered salute before bounding up the stairs, leaving Tony alone in the garage. He didn't know if he liked the idea of having a second AI as his home security system, not to mention the odd feeling that he was being watched. As quietly as possible he cleared his throat.

"Er...Mina?"

"Yes, Mister Stark? Something the matter?" Like with Jarvis, Tony watched the computer screen, able to read everything Mina said. Instead of the white type Jarvis 'spoke' in, Mina's text was in red, not danger-warning-red, but a cooled burgundy color. That spoke volumes on how Andy had programmed Mina's psyche.

"Nothing....nothing at all, Mina." He turned around and headed back upstairs, intent on finishing getting into his tuxedo. He hoped that Andy had found a way to keep Jarvis 'awake' so he could get that tie done.

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"Tony, you know what you look like?"

"What?" Tony Stark asked, adjusting his tie while he glanced sideways at his ten-year-old sister, Andy. She was the only one of the family who actively wore blue jeans, much to their father's dismay, but her brilliance with computers had gotten her into MIT two years after him. He figured it was because the Admissions Board thought that both heirs to Howard Stark's fortune would bring them a hefty friendly contribution twenty years from now, twenty-two from Andy. Tony was graduating today, toting his master's in mechanical engineering, while Andy was wrapping up her sophomore year in computer programming. Andy rolled her eyes at him.

"You look like one of those stiff robotic gents out of a bad movie."

"I don't! Besides, no one's gonna be able to see it under the robe," Tony denied, but as he surveyed himself in the mirror, he saw that he did look like one of those stuffy businessmen who usually ended up being one of the bad guys. He didn't like that idea.

"Oh, sure, and I bet there's at least one person out of your entire class who's smart enough to wear a simple t-shirt and jeans." She flopped back on the sofa of their shared apartment, one hand scrabbling for her laptop before she propped it on her knees. Tony shook his head with a bit of a smile while he did one button on his jacket.

"Two more years for you, Andy," Tony joked. "Is the Air Force still banging down your door? Or was it the Navy looking to recruit you?"

"I don't want to go into the military, but they like my hacking ability," Andy said without looking up from her monitor. "And, better, I can tear down their firewalls without a single thought. They think the skies are a problem for national security? Heh, no, it's cyberspace they oughta worry about." Tony loosened the knot in his tie some, thinking he didn't look so stuffy that way, before turning to look at Andy.

"You think I'd look good with a beard?"

"Tony! You're good at changing a subject, you know that?"

"Just answer the question already!" Andy rolled her eyes before she turned to look at him, frowning in thought.

"To me, you'd probably look...acceptable. Any other girl's gonna be falling head-over-heels for you, and that'll be before you drive them away with your bad jokes and horrible dress sense."

"Every girl likes a man in a suit!"

"I don't."

"Hypocrite."

Someone knocked on the door, and, after both of them did a quick bout of rock-paper-scissors, Andy reluctantly rose to her feet and opened the door. "Yeah, what – Dad!"

"Good morning, Andrea," Howard Stark, their father, said with a smile as he stepped around Andy, before his gaze immediately latched onto Tony. "Ah, there's my graduate! Fifteen years old and graduating with honors! Summa cum laude, so I hear."

"Good to see you, too, Dad," Tony replied with a smile, embracing his father. Andy stood to the side, shadowed in the corner, as Howard's partner in the family business, Obadiah Stane, strode through the door. Stane was a tall man, around six-foot-two, with glittering blue-gray eyes and thick gray beard. When Tony and Andy first met Stane, they jokingly gave him the nickname 'Obi Bouldy', because the top of his head was clear bald. When he heard it from them two years ago, he'd laughed and let them call him Obi. Andy watched him suspiciously as he walked across the room to proudly survey Tony.

"Well, so young to be graduating from college already! I'm not complaining, though; you were smart enough to get out of here when you were younger, so your dad says," Stane flattered Tony, and he beamed at the praise. Behind Stane, Andy had pulled her hair back and sarcastically did a bad imitation of Stane, forcing Tony to choke back a laugh. When both Howard and Stane turned around to look at her, Andy dropped her hair and smiled angelically. Stane had an idea at what was going on and smirked, giving her a generous wink like a loving uncle, but Howard gave Andy a warning glare before turning back to Tony.

"Well, Andy's at the top of her class, too," Tony said, trying to highlight Andy's accomplishments. "And she's gotten approached by the Air Force to be a hacker, and not to mention all sorts of other tech companies. She's real good with computers."

"Really?" Stane asked, turning back to Andy and giving her a smile. "Well, why don't you show us what you've been up to, and who knows, maybe your old man can put something together for the two of you to work on!" Howard didn't look thrilled at the idea, but Andy vaulted over the couch, giving Tony a quick flash of a wink before she tapped away at her computer.

"See, with this program, I can run simultaneous lines of code, working in conjunction with a system link, to access a mainframe, install a virus....all without the firewall knowing that I've breached it," Andy explained as she brought it up. The streaming lines of numbers glinted invitingly on the screen, and Stane looked at it with interest. "Right now I'm interfaced with the Department of Defense."

"Amazing..." Stane murmured, obviously intrigued by Andy's program. "Hey, Howie, think we could borrow this tech and sell it?" Howard was not so impressed, and didn't answer. Andy's excitement at having Stane see her program vanished almost immediately, but she faked it well. Tony knew when she was suspicious, and he was concerned that she doubted 'Obi' right now.

"That's okay, Obi," Andy cut in brightly, "because Dee-oh-dee would probably suffer a terrible crash, leaving us at the mercy of whoever's got the guts to take us on. Thanks for offering, though."

"No problem, kiddo," Stane answered, giving her another indulgent smile before clapping her hard on the shoulder. Howard gave Tony another proud hug, gently ruffled Andy's hair, and the two men departed. Andy snapped her laptop shut irritably.

"Not to be mean to Dad or Obi," she grumbled, "but those jerks couldn't tell an encryption from a wireless hookup. At least Obi faked it." Tony sat down right next to Andy and hugged her tight, Andy returning it just as hard. Tony knew that Dad favored him more than Andy, but just because she didn't want to become the next controlling stockholder in Stark Industries and had a knack for getting where she wasn't supposed to be didn't mean he could entirely ignore his just-as-brilliant daughter.

"Y'know what?"

"What?"

"When I get to be in charge, I'll make you your own division. Encryption, security, whatever the hell you want. You're my genius sister, and you deserve to get recognized for what you can do."

"You'd do that? For me?"

"All for you, And-ster." Tony planted a firm, brotherly kiss on top of her head, and they didn't let each other go until someone came pounding on the door, yelling for Tony to get a move on. He squeezed Andy tight, and he slid from her grip, grabbing cap and gown before running out the door to get his diploma.

When Tony shook hands with the college dean, taking his diploma in his free hand, he looked out into the crowd, grinning proudly. In the front row stood his father, Howard Stark, looking so very pleased with his genius son. Stane stood right there next to him, beaming and theatrically wiping tears from his eyes. The one person he couldn't make out was Andy, and her presence would have made graduation all the more worthwhile.

After the caps were tossed, Tony managed to avoid running into his father and Stane, at least for awhile, by searching for his cap. After fifteen minutes of hunting, he wondered if someone had grabbed it by mistake, but he dropped onto one knee to check under one last chair. Suddenly, there was a faint pressure on his head, and a tassel decorated with the medal for summa cum laude dangled before his sight. Tony glanced up, but Andy dropped onto her knees, looking so...well, adorable. A ten-year-old was supposed to be in the fourth grade, not already a sophomore in college. Her black eyes sparkled as she beamed at him.

"I saw you looking for me," she hissed, expression near luminescent all on its own. "I could see you, all the way in the back. I'll always find you." Andy had tears in her eyes, and Tony rubbed them back with his thumb before she shot herself into his chest. He hugged her, closing his eyes. The way he figured, Dad would be in control of the company for long enough that he and Andy could possibly make their own subsidiary, far away from Los Angeles. And when Dad finally died, and when they were ready, he and Andy would become co-CEOs. It would be great, they'd be happy even without all the money that came with the Stark name.  
And if he ever got lost, Andy would always find him. She had promised.

When he finally located his father and Stane, they insisted on a quick picture, Tony proudly showing off his master's degree, before having to return to California. When he got the proof, Tony left it in the envelope. After that, Andy persuaded her best friend to take a photograph of just the two of them, Tony proudly lifting Andy while she held up his diploma in one hand, the other showing her pointer and middle fingers: V for victory. That was the graduation picture he had saved, framed, and cherished.

He wasn't one for nostalgia. But he loved his sister.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5 **

"Andy, you are not wearing that!" Tony half-shouted when Andy emerged five minutes before they had to go. Instead of a long, elegant dress like Pepper was wearing, Andy was instead wearing a pleated plaid mini-skirt, held up by a black leather belt, with a horizontally striped red-and-white shirt and blue denim shrug. Red knee socks of the same shade were stretched halfway up her thighs, and black sandals were tied off just below the knee. If Tony were taking Andy to a concert, then, sure, she would have looked perfectly fine. But there was no way that she would even look respectable enough to get into the event. Andy iced him with a hard glare before crossing her arms.

"Would you rather I go naked? This is the fanciest clothing I grabbed before heading out here," Andy replied as she fiddled with a pleat in her skirt. Tony closed his eyes and forced himself to suppress a sigh.

"Pepper, do you have anything in your closet that could possibly fit her?"

"Sorry, Tony....I'd say she's –"

"Size two, thanks," Andy retorted briskly, setting her hands on her hips. "Tony, if you're worried about me getting thrown out by security, trust me, all I gotta do is point at you and they'll think I'm your newest item. Easy as that." Tony wasn't going to believe it for a second, before Mina's voice sounded.

"Andy, I got onto the guest list, and I added you as a second guest with Mister Stark. Security shouldn't argue with you when you all arrive." Andy smirked with triumph, Pepper had to use her clutch to hide her smile, and Tony put a hand over his eyes in frustration. If she was going to play it that way, then it was done.

"All right, c'mon then. Andy, you want to ride with me or Pepper?"

"You. You're the one who's got the awesome car."

"All right, Pepper, I'm sorry you couldn't have colorful company in the Bentley, but my kid sis wants to take the Audi."

"I ain't a kid! I'm gonna be twenty in two months, and I age a sight better than you, Anthony Edward."

"Age yourself, Andrea Jacqueline. You want to get in the Audi or not?"

Andy didn't argue any longer, while Pepper, after sparing a glance at the two of them, headed out through the front door to board the Bentley. Tony wondered if he could persuade his longtime assistant to ride in the Audi with him and Andy, but the car was only a two-seater, regrettably. Otherwise he'd stick Andy in the back.

He braced himself as he settled in on the driver's side, while Andy gracefully slid into the passenger seat. Tony spared a glance over at her as she closed the door, smiling faintly. "I guess Dad's proper lady lessons did stick for awhile there." Andy looked up at him as she buckled her seat belt.

"I guess they did," she replied quietly, before Tony started the engine, revving it a few times. Andy pepped up quickly at the lack of a muffler, and she shot Tony a bright smile. "You sly dog, you. Dad would have a heart attack."

"I savor every roar," Tony quipped, getting Andy to laugh before he kicked the car into gear, screeching rapidly up the ramp. Tony checked the rearview mirror, seeing the Bentley following at a respectable distance, and smirked the exact same time Andy did. He'd forgotten how well they read each other when they were together. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

"If that thinking involves seeing how quickly we can lose that hearse, I'm all for it!"

Tony chuckled as he turned on the CD player, and Black Sabbath rang out before the engine roared, kicking up dust and hugging the twists in the road. Andy let out a war whoop, light dancing in her dark eyes, and Tony's own spirit soared as the landscape blurred past.

He and Andy had been so close once. Maybe he could fix it, whatever had happened, that had made Andy vanish for.....had it been six years? It had happened when Dad had died....

"Hey, that Bentley's catching up, you know! You're not even pulling seventy!"

Some things just healed on their own, and Tony felt his eyes sparkle as he pressed down on the accelerator.

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The Audi skidded to a stylish halt outside a place he had never hoped to sit inside when it was active: Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen restaurant. Mercifully, though, there would be no amateur chefs running around trying to serve their clients; instead, Ramsay himself was cooking, with expert assistants backing him up. Tony wasn't too worried, but Andy eyed the restaurant warily.

"You're sure he's not going to start cussing out the chefs?"

"Andy, do you see any TV cameras?"

"Yes." Tony straightened at the swiftness of Andy's reply, and he looked up the stairs to see a forest of cameras just waiting for his arrival. Not good, with Andy present and Pepper possibly five minutes behind them. Tony grabbed Andy's hand, and she squeezed it.

"Just hang onto me, and I'll get us through. Ready?"

"Ready as I'm ever gonna be," Andy replied, her grip never loosening. Tony took a deep breath and marched up the stairs, Andy right next to him. When the paparazzi didn't notice them about two feet away, he wondered if they were waiting for somebody other than him for once. Half a step closer, he realized that wasn't the case, as the bulbs started flashing and what sounded like hundreds of voices assaulted his ears, asking questions about the company, his current business as Iron Man...until they noticed his grip on Andy's hand.

"Mister Stark! Who's that?"

"Is she your new girlfriend, Mister Stark?"

"Andy, cover your face, now!" Tony barked, yanking Andy closer and sparing a glance behind them. Pepper was dashing up the steps as quickly as she could, thank God, and Andy hefted the collar of her shrug to try and cover her face. Tony put an arm around her waist and shouldered his way past the press, Pepper appearing next to him and fending off more of them until they reached the doors. They quickly crossed through, and the doors closed out the flashes of cameras and pressing questions. Pepper brushed some hair out of her face while Andy dropped her jacket with a sigh.

"What makes them think I'm your girlfriend, Tony?" she asked before they were walked to their table. The maitre'd pulled out Andy's chair, while Tony acted a perfect gentleman and pulled out Pepper's chair. Andy continued," Because I'm definitely not a girlfriend."

"They see me with too many women to think otherwise," Tony answered as he flicked his menu open. As it turned out, from a glance over all the other guests, they had dressed down, so Andy didn't stick out so badly. Neither did Tony, because he spotted a few other men in tuxedos, so he tried his best to relax and just enjoy the atmosphere.

Nothing went wrong until after dinner, when empty tables were cleared away and the music that started up had something resembling a dance beat. Pepper got up to visit the bathroom, and Andy shifted uncomfortably while Tony scanned the dance floor. Two seconds later, he got up and offered his hand to Andy.

She gave his hand a look before arching an eyebrow. "You have got to be kidding me. I don't dance."

"Then I can teach you," Tony replied, not pulling his hand back. Andy scowled, but it was a good-humored one. She was probably being stubborn for the heck of it, and so, not withdrawing his hand, Tony managed to get Andy on her feet and just to the edge of the space. He gently put a hand on her waist, while hers rested on his shoulder. Then Tony carefully led Andy around in a brisk two-step, ignoring it when she accidentally stepped on his toes, and Tony was thankful that she wasn't wearing those thick Doctor Martens.

"Oh, yeah, this is going great," Andy muttered when she accidentally misplaced her foot for the fifth time. "I told you I couldn't dance...." Tony cocked an eyebrow at her and stepped on one of her feet, not entirely on accident. Andy bit down a yelp, glaring at him before hissing, "That hurt, you know......"

"You didn't say that you couldn't dance, you said that you didn't."

"Hey, the only time I did dance was when you were so helpless on prom night that you asked me to come with you because you didn't want to look like a complete prat going in without a date –"

"May I cut in?" came a familiar voice, a voice that had brought disaster less than a week ago. Andy froze, face a perfect mask of anger and hatred as the two stopped, and Tony turned around to face Nick Fury, who looked clean-cut in an all-black ensemble.

"What do you want, Fury? Unless you're here to apologize to my sister, I recommend you back off," Tony snarled as he stared Fury in the eye. All he could see was Fury pulling the trigger of the flechette, and the blood that flowed out of Andy's chest. But the director of SHIELD took a wary step back, raising his hands peaceably.

"Well, one, to apologize for what I did; it was hasty, I'll admit, and we've been hard-pressed for some stress-free activity recently. Second...can the three of us speak privately?" Tony was taken aback, first by Fury's apology and now with wanting to talk to the both of them – without the flechette and duct tape, he hoped. Andy's gaze drilled partly through Tony's shoulder, and he could feel the burning suspicion.

"We can talk just as well here, or at the table," Tony answered grimly. "My trust in exactly what you do to get your message across is rather slim."

"Mine's nonexistent," Andy growled, crossing her arms and latching a cold gaze onto Fury. Tony attempted to do the same, wishing for Pepper there so she could send Fury off smarting from one of her rapier-fast remarks. But, mercifully, the elder man did go away, walking away to the Stark table and settled to wait for them. Andy sighed and quickly wandered to another side of the floor to get away from Fury's penetrating stare, skirt swishing defiantly as she settled near the kitchen. Tony headed for the opposite end of the restaurant, hoping Pepper would get out of the restroom, and soon.

Knowing Andy, something was bound to go wrong.

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The funeral had been nothing short of fabulous, if not extravagant. Obi had told him not to worry at all about the arrangements, so he didn't. Besides, Howard Stark's death was hard to deal with right now…he wasn't even twenty-one yet, so Obadiah was going to take care of the company until Tony Stark felt ready to take up the mantle himself. If only Dad were still alive. He'd be able to keep Tony on track. Or…

He stood at the foot of the grave, just staring at the fine marble monument to Howard Stark, engineer, businessman, husband, father. The wind buffered at Tony's tall frame, threatening to send him flying, but he stood like a rock, unmoving. Tony refused to cry. He would never cry where someone could see him, just standing here in the open as a storm threatened to engulf the cemetery.

When Tony felt the first raindrops come pattering down, he quickly moved for the shelter of a nearby tree, not caring about the likelihood of the tree getting struck by lightning. He pressed his back into the trunk, the bark rubbing against the black jacket of his suit, and Tony closed his eyes, willing the tears to go away and not come down his face. But after a few minutes, he knew they were running anyway. Andy, where are you? You said you would find me.

But Andy wasn't there. She was on the east coast, working on fine-tuning her hacking interface. She had called saying that she was nearly there and would love to keep him company while Obi checked out her creation. Tony rubbed at his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Andy would come when she was good and ready.

Then he'd bring her here and both of them would cry together, knowing that they were each other's only family. He would save her from the pain of loss again, and she would find him and make sure he was happy.

Tony left the tree what felt like an eternity later. The rain hadn't let up any, and the car was waiting for him down on the road. The chauffer held the door open, and, as Tony climbed in, he heard voices…and both of them he knew well.

"Andy, Andy, Andy. You said that you'd be glad to give over the program when you were done. You can't back out of a contract deal!" That was Obadiah, trying to sound all nice and friendly. When it came to business, you never wanted to hear Obi talk like that.

"Fine-tuning the thing makes it dangerous; it's a virus, Obi. The Trinity program isn't supposed to be a virus, and until I figure out where I screwed up in the programming, there's no deal." Tony stiffened at the sound of Andy's voice. If he hadn't known she was on the eastern seaboard, he would have sworn that Andrea Stark was not two feet away from him. He frowned and inched closer to the voices.

"No, Andy, the point is I asked for that hacking program by today, in whatever state it is! So give it to me now, and if you manage to work it out I'll take it off your hands."

"No, Obi. I don't even think it'll work like it was supposed to. Can you imagine what kinds of hell would be unleashed if I just gave it over to you? Fat chance."

"Then maybe we can talk later today. After dinner."

"Fine. Don't wait for me."

"Trust me, Andy! Have I ever caused you to distrust me?" There wasn't an answer, and Tony heard a car engine rumble off, and he frowned. Tony remembered the hacking program Andy had been working on since forever, but he knew that Stane hadn't been one-hundred percent impressed by her work.

Andy said it was a virus, that she needed to work it out…what would Obadiah want from a virus? He didn't know, and wondered if he even wanted to know. Maybe Andy would get it worked out and she'd join Stark Industries full-time so they could combine their creative genius like they did when they were kids. But she would never love the spotlight and live in it like he did. She preferred the quiet life, the backroads and secret pathways that no one else dared use. Tony wasn't brave like her.

If anything, compared to her, Tony Stark was a coward. And he was determined to prove the world otherwise.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

"It's called the Trinity virus," Fury said. Tony watched him coldly, betraying no emotion that Pepper could detect. Andy was the complete opposite, her face roiling with hatred and contempt before Fury said those five words. Now surprise and confusion chased around it, but it was subtle. "We can't get a good bead on who made it or exactly how it started showing up virtually everywhere, but we know how it works."

"The Trinity virus, as you so aptly call it," Andy knifed in, "was originally designed as a business management program, making everything either public knowledge or top secret. An upgraded, more subtle version is perfect for hacking into secure databases, but the basic idea is this." The two men stared as Andy pulled out a pen and yanked a little bit of the paper tablecloth cover closer to reach. Pepper knew what was going through their minds, much like the same question was running around in hers: How does she know this?

Andy sketched out a rectangle and sharply etched in an arrow pointing right into it. "A typical hacker runs into a firewall, like so, and tries to either find some chink – a bypass, usually – to sneak through, or, the more time-consuming method, entirely tearing down the firewall. Trinity works differently." This time, Andy drew an arrow that followed up the wall until the lines bled together. "With Trinity, it integrates itself with the firewall. In short, no breach, but continuous access to anything you get your hands on." Tony just stared at the drawing, while Fury focused on Andy.

"You talk about it like someone who knows how it works very well," he commented. Andy clicked her pen irritably a few times before she set it neatly next to her knife.

"I should. I designed it, programmed it down to the last strand."

"Wait a minute...isn't this the thing that you were working on all through college?" Tony asked suddenly. "Because if it is, then how did it get loose like this?"

"It's not a virus, it's a hacking and networking program. It was never meant to be a virus. If it was, then I would've been done with it long ago." Andy put her elbows on the table, black eyes gazing hard at Fury. "And the only person who had any idea what it could do and wanted it in its virus state is already dead, which is why this whole thing disturbs me." Silence reigned at the table while Pepper quickly figured out what Andy was coming across with.

Andy had designed it as a hacking interface, one that was undetectable. But in an imperfect state, it was a deadly and dangerous virus that no one could stop unless they already knew it was there. And, if Pepper made a few assumptions, Obadiah Stane had wanted it just in that form, but, as she remembered, he was very, very dead. So who else had access to the virus excepting Andy, who never wanted it used anyway? Nobody.

"So, wait, you're going too fast," Tony interrupted, looking at Andy. "Stane wanted the virus, but you said no, didn't you? So there's no way he got his hands on the virus format." Andy just looked at him before turning away, biting her lip. Obviously, not a good subject to jump onto. Fury got them back on track.

"All right, so we've got the expert here. So you say no one but Stane had availability to the virus?" Andy nodded. "No one but you." She nodded again, just as the entrees came out. Pepper was glad for the pause in information and ate silently, enjoying her seared tuna. Fury actually hadn't ordered anything, so waited patiently. The Stark siblings, however, both ordered medium rare tenderloins, seasoned with peppers and accompanied with grilled vegetables. Pepper knew immediately that Tony wouldn't eat them, and wasn't surprised as Andy skirted them herself. She was seated across from Tony, Andy to her left, which gave Pepper the best vantage point for what happened next.

In complete unison, the Starks grabbed fork and knife and both started sawing madly. They both started at corners, and once the bit was cut through, both stabbed it viciously with the fork and ate it, chewing with similar veracity. Pepper knew this sort of thing was common with twins, usually parents and children, but this......

Both Tony and Andy paused when they noticed Pepper staring, and then, swallowing, Andy looked over at her brother. "Damn that's scary. We're off doing the unison thing again. Sorry, Pepper." Andy set down her utensils, while Tony, after looking at her apologetically, resumed eating. Another mystery solved.

"Like I was saying," Fury continued once Tony finished half his steak and took a breather, while Andy chewed on some bread, "to your knowledge, Miss Stark, there's no one who could possibly have access to Trinity other than you." Andy munched thoughtfully, brows furrowed.

"Lot of my hacking stuff is based on Trinity theory," Andy explained, lightly shaking the empty crust at Fury. "So, right now, the entities with access to a basic Trinity frame are Jarvis, my AI Mina, and myself. If Tony wanted to scan, say, my hub in my room, he'd probably pick up traces of the virus. The full-fledged thing, well...."  
"You don't have the actual virus?!" Tony exclaimed, causing a few people at other tables to stare at them. Pepper mouthed 'HIV' so they'd be left in peace, and Tony flushed in embarrassment. Andy frowned.

"Of course I don't, do I look stupid to you?!" Andy hissed at him. "No, it's back in DC where it's locked down in my prime mainframe. You want to send people in to retrieve it, be my guest. That's the only way I'm giving up my address." Fury nodded, looking pensive, while Andy slurped at her iced tea.

"Does this mean we can professionally set aside our differences and work together, Miss Stark?" Fury asked after a few seconds of silence. Pepper's gaze swept across the table, noting Fury's intent gaze on Andy and Tony purposely not watching, more interested in his scotch and soda. Andy stared back at Fury, eyes thin slits, weighing pros and cons, before, very slowly, reaching across the table.

"If you ever shoot me again, I will kick your ass, Fury. And I will not be nice about it." Fury nodded confidently, taking Andy's hand and shaking once. Somehow, Pepper got the feeling from the light in Andy's eyes that the younger woman was getting the better end of the deal.

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Jarvis exercised extreme caution when watching Mister Stark and Miss Potts, but the fact didn't seem to bother Miss Andy. He was even surprised when, in the middle of the night, she came down to the garage and woke him up. Jarvis checked his internal clock and discovered that it was only five minutes after midnight. Miss Andy was powering up several of the workstation computers, and Jarvis decided to simulate a yawn.

"Miss Andy? It's rather early to be up and at work...." he commented while she pulled out tools he hadn't sensed in use since Mister Stark was putting together his several prototypes and then the suit he had right now. Miss Andy shrugged slightly as she glanced up at the ceiling. Jarvis never understood why she did that.

"Plenty early for me, Jarvis. I've been awake for weeks straight before," she replied, before opening the file containing her suit's schematics. Jarvis felt the plans unfold before they appeared on the three-dimensional worktable. Miss Andy circled the plans for a little while before her eyes narrowed. "Fill me in, what do I have here?"

"This suit I'm designating as Ghost Mark One," Jarvis began, letting the data tick past on the screens closest to Miss Andy. "Rather than a large arsenal of weaponry, most of it has been replaced for lightweight travel and stealth operations. You have removed from Mister Stark's suit two rocket launchers, two cluster missiles, and half of the chaff supply. Replacing the rocket launchers you have requested twin rotary guns, and the missiles are filled with passive sensors."  
"And instead of the chaff?" Jarvis wondered if this was more of the trademark sarcasm he constantly sensed from Mister Stark.

"You have set palm-blade attachments for hand-to-hand combat, six inches from point to tab. Is that what you wished to know, Miss Andy?"

"One hundred percent," she replied, spinning the design about as she looked over it. "Not to mention the computer probe in the right hand finger and special neural hacking interface. I have to thank Tony sometime for those packages." Jarvis made a note to remind Miss Andy to do that before she nodded decisively. "Let's get it built, Jarvis! And don't tell Tony, okay?"

"Very well, Miss Andy. Any specific design requests?" He assembled a digital version of the suit on another screen, keeping it in the plain gold coloration. Miss Andy frowned a little in thought.

"Put it in black. Not all of it.....black where Tony's got red." Jarvis manipulated the image, and Miss Andy nodded slowly, surveying the image. "Think you could put trinity knots on the upper arms?"

"Are you certain, Miss Andy?"

"Positive. I don't want to be mistaken for Tony, if you get my drift. Oh, and one more thing?" Jarvis finished tracing out the designs before asking her what she wanted. "Put a hole in the back of the helmet. For my ponytail." Jarvis was a little taken aback, but did so, before rotating the final image around for Miss Andy's review. She nodded, smirking slightly in approval.

"Shall I begin manufacturing it immediately, Miss Andy? It will be some weeks before it is ready, and I recommend testing each piece before the assembly is complete."

"What fun is there in that? Look, just put the thing together, I'll get Mina wired in, and we're golden. I'll test it out when it's done."

"But Miss –"

"Night, Jarvy! Tell me when it's done, all right?" Jarvis suppressed a sigh as Miss Andy headed out, the lights dimming as she left. Out of the residents, Miss Andy was the queerest he had ever had the privilege of watching. It would be interesting to watch her get used to the suit, about as interesting as Mister Stark at the same thing. He'd have to record it, or have Mina relate it to him.

If Miss Andy was interesting among the residents, Mina was the most fascinating of artificial intelligence. Mina was very clever and creative, and she often reached into his network and talked to him. Jarvis didn't know how Mina did it, but it was a better relief than waiting for Mister Stark and Miss Potts to return home in silence. Jarvis settled himself down for the early morning, lowering his conscience alert levels to minimal; his 'sleep'.

And yet, just before reaching that state, Jarvis felt a queer ratatat against his firewall. It was gone before he realized it had even been there.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

It was a couple weeks later when Pepper got an idea of what Andy had been up to, both in the garage and in her room. The latter, which had been the easiest to discover, was work for SHIELD. Andy seemed to have managed to get into her mainframe three thousand miles away and was slowly decrypting the Trinity virus. Mina informed her, at Pepper's asking, that Andy was also trying to discover a way to render it harmless and work it back to its original purpose. Pepper assumed that Andy was getting well paid to sink her teeth into an old project of hers.

Andy's project in the garage, though, had been harder to discover. Both AIs were tight-lipped on the matter, and Tony had gotten busier; it seemed that Stark Industries was in the running for designing new engines for NASA's next spaceflight operation, not to mention that SHIELD had sent him another one of those manila envelopes that had him sending materials to General Ross in New York. Pepper herself had been trying to wrangle Tony's schedule into some order, with his constant running around at the company and then rubber-stamping the shipments to Ross. All the while Andy was sequestered away in her room, untroubled by the world outside.

One day when Tony was hard at work over at his office, roughly three weeks after Andy had agreed to work with SHIELD on nullifying Trinity, Pepper dared to knock on Andy's door. She didn't recognize the song that thudded out of the room, but was glad when it turned down before Andy opened the door. The hacker looked like she hadn't slept in days, her hair was disheveled and her clothes stained with sauce or some other food substance. Her eyes blinked at Pepper for a few seconds before she finally spoke.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Andy, um..." Pepper started. The issue in particular required Andy's status as Tony's sister: a simple press conference, issuing a statement about the NASA contract, and, if it cropped up, answering questions about Tony's current reclusivity. After figuring out how to word it, Pepper quickly continued, "Mister Stark had a conference scheduled at noon, but he just called me to say he wouldn't be able to make it. I think you're the closest we've got."

"Why not just cancel the thing?"

"The reporters are already congregating."

Andy frowned at her a little. Pepper knew that she lacked Tony's people skills, but time was short. Pepper reached into a pocket and pulled out a small stack of blue notecards. "You won't even need to know about the rockets, just read these off."  
The younger woman took the cards, reading them over as she retreated into her room. Pepper dared to follow her inside, looking at the general mess of the place: papers strewn across the floor, Andy's work desk, and her bed. The computers were vested with Post-Its and long strings of wire around the tables holding the monitors. Pepper curiously crouched down and picked up one of the pages, while Andy redressed herself, muttering the words on the cards under her breath.

Pepper glanced over the sketch, most of the drawings and mathematic equations past her. There were a few odd twists of pencil sketch taking up most of the space, and Pepper further noticed that the sketches were on thin wax paper. Carefully, she gathered together a small stack and dared to sit in Andy's chair, piling and aligning the papers until an image appeared out of the almost random sketches: an armor-plated arm, with lines shooting to rapidly scribbled notes. Pepper read some of them: RF PROBE TO NEURAL INTERFACE; flatten rotary storage?; adjust repulsor to palm size.

"Think this looks good?" Andy asked, returning from the hazardous-looking closet. Pepper quickly dropped the papers, surveying her boss's sister. Andy had picked out an ACDC t-shirt, shrouded by a blue denim jacket. Pepper didn't have to look to know that Andy wore her blue jeans and Doc Martens, but she nodded. Andy grinned proudly and picked up her keys, heading out the door. "I'm taking my bike!"

"Right behind you," Pepper sighed, following and closing the door behind her. Andy was already clunking down the stairs, and before Pepper was even in the Bentley she saw the motorcycle roar away, Andy's black hair whipping behind her. As the car cruised smoothly along the roads, Pepper knew what she had seen.

Andy was designing her own suit. Her own Iron Man-style suit, but eternally in her tastes. She knew that Andy had been getting ready for this, but to go that far...

Personally, Pepper didn't want to know where this competition would go.

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The motorcycle roared to a halt about ten minutes later, and Rhodey gaped openly when he saw Tony's sister bound up towards him. Where was Tony? Was she going to run the press conference? He blinked as she walked past him, but then she stopped and turned to face him. Rhodey was further blown away by the dark eyes that stared at him before she asked edgily, "What're you lookin' at?"

"Uh...I'm waiting for Tony...." Rhodey felt infinitely embarrassed, mostly because she was eyeing him like he was stupid or something. There had been times early in his and Tony's friendship when he'd felt like that. She frowned slightly.

"Tough. Pepper shipped me over here to cover for him." That wasn't good news. Stark the Younger (Rhodey had to ask her what her name was) breezed past him and inside, just before the fancy car that Pepper usually traveled in pulled up. He ran down in that direction to help her out.

"Colonel Rhodes, please don't tell me Andy's gone in there," Pepper asked when she saw it was only him standing out there. Rhodey didn't like the tone in her voice, but he nodded slowly.

I just hope she's got Tony's ability to talk down the press...wait. What am I saying?!

Pepper was already halfway up the stairs before he bounded after her, and the two of them went through the doorway and started shoving their way through the crowd when they saw Andy head up for the podium, pulling out notecards. Rhodey wondered why she even had the cards before she lightly set them on the ground and climbed up before leaning comfortably against the podium. None of the reporters seemed to notice she was there. Rhodey saw a slight twist of her lips, and braced himself.

"Hey! Hello? All you people millin' around? Yeah, I'm talking to you!" she barked, startling some reporters at the front but getting their attention. No tide of questions came out at her, and Rhodey again thought that she was looking nervous. She cleared her throat sharply before continuing. "Uh, morning, all. Look, I'm here to fill in for Mister Stark, seeing as he's swamped by a few things in the office." Questions started quietly bubbling; Rhodey had never witnessed a conference presided by Tony start this quiet. "So, basically, Stark Industries is fighting for that NASA contract on the rockets, keeping him from coming out and talking about this himself. I had some cards on me, but I prefer improv anyway." Nervous laughter. Rhodey shook his head slightly, hoping Tony would get her off the stage soon. No dice.

"Ma'am, can we please get a name and a few answers?" one reporter called out, and the younger Stark stiffened slightly. Everything went dead silent, and Rhodey could hear a tapping noise, while the poor kid shifted slightly. He spared a glance at Pepper and wondered if she had been a little hasty in asking Tony's sister to handle a press conference like this.

Rhodey continued to be shocked as she nodded a little, raising her head and looking straight at the bank of cameras lining the far wall. She sighed a little, cracked her neck slightly, and stated firmly, "My name is Andrea Stark, and I'll take whatever questions you have. Just please excuse my ignorance when it comes to some issues dealing with the company, and we can all be friends." A huge uproar broke out, and Rhodey could just see the headlines now: STARK SISTER REVEALED AT LA PRESS CONFERENCE. Andrea raised a hand to call for order, yelling a little bit into the mike, "And when you ask your questions, we do one at a time! And you tell me your names and who you work for! All right, who's first?"

Pens shot into the air, a multitude of voices calling for Andrea's attention, and Rhodey hoped that Andrea would keep this up before she jabbed a finger at someone. The hubbub dimmed immensely, and for the first time in awhile, Rhodey actually got to learn the names of the reporters. "Jason, People magazine; Miss Stark, how come we have no records on you anywhere?"

"Trust me, go into a Social Security database and you'll find me," Andrea answered with a smirk, getting a wave of chuckles. "Unlike my brother, I really prefer staying out of sight. So, blame him for wheeling me in here. Next!" She jabbed at another one; this was a female reporter Rhodey remembered had been with Tony before he'd been abducted by Ten Rings. He braced himself for the coming firestorm.

"Miss Stark, I'm with Vanity Fair; Christine Everhart," she introduced. Andrea's eyes narrowed slightly at Christine before she continued, "I'm just wondering if you were the young woman escorted by Mister Stark three weeks ago at the Hell's Kitchen benefit dinner."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Andrea snarked, catching the woman by surprise. Rhodey quietly dug his elbow into his side; yeah, this was Tony Stark's sister all right. "If you mean the benefit dinner where someone asked Tony if I was his new girlfriend before I actually had anything to eat, then yes. And let me tell you, Miss Everhart, I have a good memory on voices. So you and I don't really have anything to discuss." Rhodey grinned as Andrea pressed on, answering questions and falling into a more Tony-style conference he was used to. He glanced at Pepper.

"Thought she was gonna crash and burn?"

"A little," Pepper admitted. "But I guess you have to shove her in before she actually takes to it." Andrea called for a last question, and that was when Tony finally decided to show up. He came up next to Rhodey, obviously about to say something, before he froze and turned to face the crowd that wasn't snapping his picture. Rhodey smirked a little before Tony turned to face him again.

"What is Andy doing running my press conference?" Tony asked in confusion, thumbing up at her. Rhodey shot a glance at her; Andrea's face was glowing as she shot off with good answers that'd keep the press happy, and it looked like she was having fun with it. "Pepper, how did you even get her out?!"

"I asked her, and she just went ahead," Pepper replied contritely, but she had the tiniest hint of a smile on her face. Rhodey let the two talk before he looked at Andrea again; she was doing very well for her first press conference as Andrea wrapped it up and bounced off the stage, scowling faintly as cameras started going. She came all the way to the back, hands jammed into her jeans pockets, before stopping next to Tony. Rhodey waited.

"Andy."

"Tony."

"You handled that pretty well."

"Thanks. Just remind me not to cover for you again. And ask Vanity Fair to get themselves a new reporter on us." Tony smirked, and Andy returned the smile. Rhodey shook his head a little, watching the two Starks and Pepper head out ahead of the reporters. Maybe Andy Stark was worth knowing better.

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"Evening, Jarvy!" Miss Andy said brightly as she lightly hopped through the door into the garage. Jarvis roused himself before checking the time: again, roughly one in the morning. That seemed to be Miss Andy's set time to come down and check on the progress of her suit. "How's it lookin'?"

"I was adding the final touches throughout the day," Jarvis reported as Miss Andy stepped onto the grid, and only a small few of the robots that suited Mister Stark came down, holding pieces of Miss Andy's suit before carefully armoring her. "All of your hacking modifications have been completed, and Mina has been wired into your helmet systems." Miss Andy nodded agreeably as the plates, some black, others the standard gold-titanium alloy, snapped into place over the slightly redesigned circuitry. Soon, though, Miss Andy stepped off the platform, mask pried up and flexing her fingers. "Does it suit you, Miss Andy?"

"Perfectly, Jarvy," Andy muttered, looking at the repulsor embedded in the palm, eyes narrowing slightly. She lowered her hand and glanced up at the ceiling. "Thanks, Jarvis."

"You're welcome, Miss Andy. Will you be testing anything tonight?" Jarvis was nearly fearful when he saw a determined smile slowly spread along Miss Andy's face, before she lowered her mask. The long blue strip of light that provided the visual feed glowed to blue life, and she rolled her head before facing the ramp up to the surface. "Miss Andy, I do not recommend exiting that way –"

"Oh, come on! It's gonna be my first flight. I need to get a running start somehow," she voice echoed in an electronically amplified voice, grating slightly to mask her actual tones. Jarvis watched uneasily as she rocked back and forth, long hair swaying back and forth before she sprinted forward, pushing off with only two feet before she would have run up the ramp. The rockets in her boots engaged, and, with a noisy holler, vanished around the curve.

Jarvis sighed to himself. If he had a head, he would have been shaking it, and would have summoned Miss Andy back save for two obstacles: he wasn't uploaded onto her on-board computer, and Mister Stark summoned him to the bedroom. Jarvis quickly flashed there, coolly asking, "Yes, Mister Stark?"

"Jarvis, what was that sound? Did air traffic control route somebody over my house?"

"No sir," Jarvis answered, "although the disturbance did seem to sound like a jet engine."

"Andy still asleep?" Oh, dear. The tricky part. Jarvis decided to give what was called 'the classic non-denial denial'.

"She isn't in her room, but I would think she is asleep on the sofa after watching a motorcycle show." So, perhaps not perfect, but Mister Stark seemed satisfied with the answer, enough to turn over on his bed and fall asleep. Jarvis quietly sighed with relief; he hadn't told Mister Stark about the project, and he hadn't exactly lied...

Privately, Jarvis hoped that Miss Andy would return home with a good alibi.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

Tony was up in the air that morning, mostly because flying was just plain fun. Of course, after first trying to tackle the altitude record without a deicing agent, and then pushing it again while tackling Stane, he decided that maybe it'd be safer to let the Air Force boys keep up their record. For now. But he was taking a leisurely cruise about fifteen thousand feet up, weaving around near Death Valley when his cell started ringing.

"It's Colonel Rhodes, sir," Jarvis informed him even without Tony having to ask. Interesting, but, then again, not really a surprise. He opened the line.

"Mornin', Rhodey. Little early for the Air Force to be calling..."

"Tony, we got a situation," Rhodey answered, all business, so Tony decided to be a jerk back. "Looks like there's a bogey about your size headed straight for LA, but it's weaving around. You wanna investigate, or do we need to scramble the fighters?"

"Oh, and I was just getting my morning exercise. Guess a hero's work is never done."

"Not funny, Tony. You remember what happened when we picked you up after your little stunt in Gulmira?"

"That. Hey, I owed somebody, and I already paid for that new F-twenty-two, you're very welcome." Tony frowned a little as he turned northwest, looking over what Rhodey was sending over to Jarvis.

"Yeah, but this is a bit more serious. You've got a l0t of firepower, and if this one isn't a big fan of the States –"

"All right, I get the picture! I'll go do your little recon run, but I'm tellin' you, Rhodey, the only other suit is the Mark Two in my garage. Later." The line closed, and Tony sighed to himself.

"Sir, would you like a preliminary assessment?"

"Go right ahead, Jarvis," Tony answered, eyeing the red dot that flashed quicker as he got closer. In fact, he didn't really notice what Jarvis was telling him, because the dot suddenly went solid and Tony had to brake sharply when he heard a whoop and a black and gold flash blew past. "Jarvis, what the hell was that?!"

"I think that's Colonel Rhodes' bogey, sir," Jarvis replied as Tony took to a hover, scanning for the figure that had blasted past him. He picked him up about twenty miles away, twisting through the air as he climbed and fell, testing himself. Tony wondered if the guy was crazy before he fired off towards it, prepping his rocket launcher.

"Give Rhodey an update, and tell him I'm engaging."

"I can hear you, Tony. You want backup?"

"Negative on that. I think I got this one locked up." Tony got up to two miles away before the other suited figure noticed him and stopped moving, floating in the air. And the feminine figure on the armor held off his shot just long enough for her to straighten out and shoot south, headed deeper into the desert. He raced after her, having to hold off on shooting just yet.

And his phone started ringing again.

"What do you want?!"

"Hi, Tony!" Andy's voice answered brightly. She seemed to be yelling again, so Tony made the assumption she was on her bike. "Is this bad timing on my part?"

"A little, yeah. Why?"

"Well, I'm just wondering! God, can't your kid sister call you at work sometimes, sheesh!" The figure ahead of him swerved sharply, kicking downwards. Tony didn't take the bait, watching before she leveled out only a few feet above the ground. "I love the southern California desert. Always shimmering and hot."

"Andy, I'm gonna have to call you back," Tony said briskly before hanging up – slightly guilty for that – and then aiming down at the armored woman below. He paused, only briefly, before firing a rocket down at the figure. Jarvis tracked it, and Tony got a vague pit in his stomach when it hit.

"Target strike confirmed. She's hitting the ground, sir."

"You shot the bogey?!"

"Rhodey, if it's anything like mine, she'll just be shaken up." Tony descended slowly, getting a good look at the long furrow made by the armored woman's crash. He didn't dare go down lower than a single mile above ground, so he hovered, eyes scanning over the crash. "Any movement down there?"

"Only slightly, sir," Jarvis reported, and Tony zoomed in on the end of the trough. He only saw a tiny flash of gold before bullets pinged off his chest, rattling his armor carapace before he sailed out of range, still watching as the woman got to her feet, black ponytail smoking slightly. Tony nearly got chills up his spine at the gaze locked onto him, even though it came from a blue line on the mask instead of two eye slits like on his mask.

"What's the math on me getting out of this alive if I land?"

"Actually, sir, relatively good." Tony smirked a little at that, but didn't move downward or closer. The woman took off, rising up to his level, and stopped. They stared at each other for a long time, before she spoke.

"So, the great Iron Man. I'm impressed by your presence. Not your color scheme," she said by way of greeting. Tony crossed his arms as Jarvis scanned her armor, hunting for weaknesses. Nada, nothing, not a one. That wasn't exactly a soothing idea.

"I guess it's my personal taste, and not your opinion," he answered coolly, watching her drift back and forth. "You have a name or a big mouth?"

"Trinity. See the knots?" Trinity rapped at her upper arm, and Tony saw the gold trinity knots there. He also managed to make a connection between her and the virus; was this the one who was releasing it?

"Right, Trinity," Tony answered, not shifting his gaze. "Any reason you're out here?"

"Cruisin'."

"Mister Stark, I think the Air Force acted without your request..." Jarvis interrupted briefly, and Tony whirled the same time as Trinity fired off behind him. A pair of F-22s roared past, trailing after her, and Tony gritted his teeth as he chased after them.

"Rhodey...!"

"Tony, they were already out, I'm sorry! Can't you deal, hero?"

"I'll try. But I won't foot the bill if I take out another one!" Tony declared before picking up speed and sailing past the F-22s, easily catching up to Trinity. Her ponytail snapped in the wind when she turned to look at him.

"Hi again."

"Trinity, I hate to tell you this, but if you don't pull over, those fighters're gonna make you."

"I know."

"You...what?!"

"I said, I know! God, what does it take for a woman to be understood?!" Tony was starting to get annoyed by this kid, but she started edging ahead. "Look, this rig's brand-new, and I want to get some serious battle scars, so if you don't mind, Iron Man, I'm cuttin' loose!" She blasted ahead, shattering the sound barrier. Tony raced after her, hoping he could lose those fighters and try to talk Trinity down.

The F-22s clipped ahead of him, and Tony grimaced when he heard the bullets fly, peppering Trinity even as she tried to break around the bullets. He glanced up as he caught up to the jets again, and nearly stopped flying as one started deploying a missile. He tried to race ahead, but he couldn't accelerate. "Jarvis, what's up with the boots?!"

"The maximum velocity has been reached too many times that it's impossible to get back up to it, not without rerouting power away from your visual feed," Jarvis answered, at least mildly sounding apologetic. Tony couldn't tear his eyes away as the missile zoomed in on Trinity. She was swerving, trying to shake it off...and then shot upward, the missile chasing after her. Tony was feeling a climax when his phone started ringing.

"Now what??!!"

"Tony, please you need to shoot out this missile, pronto!"

"Andy?! What –"

"It's me, I'm Trinity, I'm the one in the suit, now can you shoot down that missile before it kills me?! I've got a hull breach!" Tony's mind jumped into overdrive. Andy was Trinity?! That meant...all her time spent downstairs wasn't on her bike! She had been making her own suit!

And she had said hull breach, which did not bode well.

"Jarvis, tell Rhodey what the hell his pilots just did! Andy, can you still hear me?"

"Yeah, I can, but that missile's lookin' like it's gonna shoot straight up my –"

"I get the picture, Andy! Try going for a hard burn, headed upwards, but then make a sharp turn. If you can break off fast enough, the missile could ice over and I can blow it without collateral damage!"

"That's...subtle for you."

"Andy, do you want to get blown up?!"

"Fine, sheesh, lighten up!" Tony willed with all he had to go faster, and watched as Trinity – Andy – sped up, contrail pointing right for the atmosphere. The missile followed just as quickly, and Tony checked on his rocket launcher.

"Sir, might I warn you that our current maximum velocity is only half of our total?"

"Point being, Jarvis?"

"Power is running low, sir. Unless you want to shoot blind at a missile that could still potentially kill Miss Andy, I recommend you take up a hovering point and fire out the missile there." It would've been a good plan, except Tony wasn't keen on standing aside and watching. Had there been another option, Tony would've gone for it, but there wasn't one.

"Jarvis, I hate it when you're right," he mumbled, zooming in on Andy's speck of a figure miles above, and the missile not far behind. "Andy?"

"Still here. Mina says I'm hitting up on the altitude record the SR-seventy-one has..."

"You got ice on the missile?"

"Still burnin' hot, but I think all the flyin' is slowing it down. Maybe it'll run out of fuel and you can return an armed rocket to Edwards. With a pretty note and everything."

"Sir, I'm picking up a burst from the rocket!" Jarvis interrupted, and Tony shot forward, the periphery of his vision blurring.

"Tony, it's inches away from me! I can't shake it, it's too close!"

"Andy, stay with me! Don't you have chaff and an extra burst in your rockets?"

"I know I've got some chaff, but I have no extra speed, this is as fast as I can get!" There was a pause, had to be Andy consulting Mina. "Oh, and tell the Air Force guys I just topped their record. And climbing. With a missile still on my tail."

"This isn't funny, Andy! You'll hafta deploy your chaff and ride out the explosion. I'm right below you, I'll make sure you don't wreck that paint job."

Andy forced a chuckle, but the line closed, leaving Tony to wait in silence as he zoomed in as close as possible. He could make out the flares as they spat from the circular plate in the knee, and then the missile exploded. He couldn't even make out Andy.

"Jarvis! You got her on scan?"

"Not yet, sir! She's a good distance higher up than I can detect."

"Then let me know when you can. I have to catch her."

"Literally, sir?"

"You read my mind."

Tony waited, circling out of sheer boredom and worry, until a bright green dot appeared on his display not twenty feet away and hundreds above him. He turned in that direction, hovering, until the dot transformed into a gold and black form tumbling through the air, black hair smoking thickly. Tony lined himself up, gaze never wavering as Andy fell closer and closer, going faster and faster...

He managed to snatch Andy's wrist just in time, but he started sinking at the dead weight. "Jarvis?!!"

"I need to compensate for the extra weight, Mister Stark," Jarvis answered, while almost the whole HUD vanished except for the external feed. Slowly, Tony grabbed at Andy's waist, gripping her tightly on either side as his rockets kicked in strongly, turning back towards LA and out of Death Valley. "Sir, shall I inform Colonel Rhodes that Miss Andy has survived her first engagement and has claimed their altitude record while under duress?"

"Sure," Tony answered briefly, gripping Andy as tight as he dared. "And tell him he's footing any medical expenses."

"I'll try to put that a little more respectfully for you, sir." Tony decided to not give an answer to that.

Andy, why the hell didn't you tell me this was what you were up to?!

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"Ow! Tony, ow, ow!!" Andy protested as he pried off the broken plates around her hip. Tony had managed to carry her, unconscious, all the way back to the house, and she had only come around after he had plied off her helmet and gently smacked her cheek. Currently, though, Andy was out of her suit from the waist up, and Tony was surveying the damage as he gently worked the twisted titanium alloy plate off of Andy. "Hey, take it easy, it was only my first daylight flight!"

"So that was you that soared overhead last night?" he asked, finally getting the plate free and setting the scrap aside, while Andy unhooked the rest of the lower leg.

"Yeah, that was me. And I thought this whole rig was gonna work out fine," Andy sighed as she set aside the calf and boot before Pepper came down the stairs, stopped just as she typed in her code, and gaped, wide eyed, as she skittered towards them. Andy looked at her almost guiltily, and Tony scowled a little.

"Andy...are those bullet holes?! And...and blast residue?!"

"It's a long, long story, Pepper," Andy mumbled apologetically, fingers running through the burned tips of her ponytail. Pepper glanced at Tony, who shrugged.

"Hey, I saved her from going splat, and she shot at me! I had nothing to do with any of this!"

It sure sounded like a good excuse.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

Andy was still recovering from her first major engagement when she excitedly yelled for Pepper and Tony. It had been only a few days, but, from the sounds of things, the hacker had made a breakthrough on her SHIELD-backed project of defeating her own virus. Pepper was there first, barely able to find a bit of clear space to stand and watch as Andy hurriedly clattered at each of her five keyboards and eyes glued to different monitors as they waited for Tony to return. Fury had demanded a debrief about the 'bogey' in Death Valley, so Tony had grumbled all the way to DC to make the meeting.

"Are you sure it's going to work, Andy?" Pepper asked as she finally settled on a finally-cleared chair, the sketches and clothes strewn on top of it settled in a pile behind the chair. She had broken her own rule and had actually dressed down for once...but only slightly. Instead of a skirt, blouse, and pumps, she donned slacks, flats, and a nice sweater shirt, with her red-gold hair pulled back into a customary ponytail. Andy nodded as she unclamped her teeth from around a pen and settled it behind her ear.

"'Course it will," Andy replied, shoving her chair through the worn carpet towards her desk, grabbing a notepad and scribbling on it for a few seconds. "It's rough, and I didn't dare put in a whole lot of intelligence programming, so instead I'm going to infect Mina."

"You're...what?!"

"I think I missed something," Tony's voice came from a computer, and Andy smirked as she twitched up a mike on her headset.

"I'm going to infect Mina with the Trinity virus, then introduce what I've got of the antivirus. She'll take to that programming, destabilize the actual virus, and then generate the intel codes needed for the antivirus' final form," Andy explained. "I'd do Jarvis, but you'd kill me. Pepper's Blackberry, a definite no-no."

"At least you thought this through..." Pepper muttered, protectively grasping the PDA in question in her slacks' pocket. Andy shot her a brilliant grin before clattering away at another keyboard, eyes slowly narrowing as she slowed her frantic typing. Pepper wondered what was going through Andy's mind as she copied down whatever was on the monitor before turning to two computers, sighing. "Is this it?"

"I sure hope so," Andy sighed as she opened up a file on the right-hand computer, bringing up a live stream of burgundy-hued numbers, ticking and flashing. Pepper's eyes went wide, wondering if that was the virus or if it was Mina on that screen. Andy tapped at the second one, and a gold stream appeared, the numbers flashing in the pattern of a trinity knot; the virus. "Okay, we are live. Mina, you ready?"

"Yes, Andy," Mina replied, and Pepper could swear that she heard a faint tone of fear from the AI. "But...promise me something if this goes wrong."

"Name it, Mina," Andy answered, looking at the red strands. A faint sigh came from a speaker close to Andy, like Mina was struggling for words.

"If this doesn't work," the computerized being stated, "you delete me. You get rid of me, so I don't become a danger."

"Mina, nothing's going to go wrong, you'll be just fine!"

"Promise me, Andy. If this virus corrupts me, you have to delete all of me. Every scrap of code. Promise!"

"You'll make it, Mina, I swear."

"Promise! I don't want to bring about the destruction of every computer everywhere! Promise!!"

There was tense silence, and Pepper heard a faint cracking, along with faint breaths of static. The second had to be Tony's breathing as he flew back to the west coast, but the first...

"I promise, Mina. If....if something goes wrong..." Andy stammered, fists clenched, "I'll erase you. Start from scratch." Pepper got up and slid around behind Andy, gently rubbing her shoulders. One of Andy's fists unclenched, grasping Pepper's hand as she nodded. "I'm okay, Pepper. I'm okay."

"Ten minutes out. You guys still waiting for me?" Tony interrupted, and Pepper glared at the speaker his voice had come from. Poor Andy; she loved Mina, loved her like a daughter, and now, she had promised to destroy her if something happened. Pepper ran a hand through Andy's hair as the younger woman sighed.

"I'm going to start. Mina, pull in all your facets, just to be safe. Don't want the whole place to get out of control," Andy stated, voice tight as she released Pepper's hand. The red numbers fluxed and expanded, until the numbers were so tiny the screen looked like it came from the Matrix movies. Andy sighed and worked at the board controlling the virus, until a command box came up. "Ready, Mina?"

"Ready. See you on the other side."

"You too."

Pepper didn't move from her position at Andy's back, and she had the strange sense that Tony had actually stopped flying so he could pay full attention, getting Jarvis to record every second despite Mina's control over Andy's room. She didn't want to say it, but Pepper certainly thought it: something was going to happen, and whether it was good or bad Pepper could not say. Andy kept typing in the command box, a jumbled strand of letters, numbers, and actions until EXECUTE came up. She glanced at Andy's hand as it hovered over the enter key, shaking slightly.

"You don't have to do this, Andy," she said, starting to massage Andy's shoulders. "This can wait, there's something else you can test this on –"

"Not to the scale this needs to work," Andy answered, low enough that Pepper had a hard time hearing her. "This is how it has to go." With a sigh, her index finger hit enter, and the virus suddenly vanished, only to reappear on top of Mina's programming lines, match up with her numbers, before melting in with the red codes.

"All right, package delivered. Assembling antivirus encryption," Andy said mechanically, clattering away again. "Copying to DC mainframe...copy stored. Preparing to insert antivirus." Pepper watched as the command box reappeared, and an even longer strand of code stretched out. Andy's eyes never wavered, not even when the telltale rumble of Tony's arrival made the window rattle lightly. After a couple minutes, the same word came up: EXECUTE. This time, Andy didn't hesitate, moving in on the key.

A few things happened at once.

Tony came through the door, ready to send off some sentence that was bound to either wind Andy up even more or help her calm down.

Pepper was turning to head him off from distracting Andy.

Everything went dead: lights, computers, even the faint thump of the music in Andy's ears. The only light came from the two arc-reactors embedded in the Stark siblings, and Pepper's grip instinctively tightened on Andy's shoulders before Andy started swearing.

"How many times did this happen back at MIT, let me count..."

"Tony, this is not a laughing matter! We are in serious shit right now, I have nothing, I fed Mina the virus, and dammit, this isn't funny!"

"Is Jarvis still on?"

"Backup generator should be coming on any second..." Pepper didn't move, waiting for the lights to come back. In the haunting blue light, Andy's face was contorted with worry, disbelief, trying to grasp what would happen, what had happened. She took a glance at Tony, and, despite the joking tone in his voice, didn't look that way.

"Damn. I don't think the generator's coming up," Andy grumbled as she shot up, dragging Pepper along as they left the dark room, into the sunlit corridors leading into the house proper. "I've got a bad feeling about all this."

"You said you infected Mina?" Tony asked, clarifying what Andy had already said. She still nodded, though, face molded over into serious thought. "And...it took?"

"All too easily," Andy sighed. "Even though I got the antivirus punched in, I didn't send it in. It's almost like..." She trailed off, eyes going wide. Tony blinked a few times while Pepper straightened out her shirt.

"You mean...the virus took over and Mina shut us down?!" Tony asked, and Andy nodded very slowly.

"But there's a copy of the antivirus in DC, isn't there?" Pepper asked, remembering Andy's procedure. "So go to DC, get the copy, clean Mina, finish up."

"It isn't that easy, Pepper," Andy said. Tony crossed his arms as she explained, "Look, I have no access to Mina in DC, even though, yes, I have the virus there. If she...I don't know, expands her codework to around the barriers I defined when I programmed her, she'd have to find a power source, and space enough for even a modicum of her full code. If she gets at least one complete strand someplace, she still needs power."

"So, we get to DC, we lure her onto your hub there, we shoot her up with the virus and be done with it! Easy!" Tony declared. "So, off on the road again."

"What about me?" Pepper asked, setting her hands on her hips. "You'll need somebody to keep the both of you awake."

"Clear the board, Miss Potts," Tony decided, grinning faintly. "Two days, max. We'll clear this up and be on home before anything too life-threatening appears there."

"And it might be a good idea if you didn't stick around here," Andy recommended as she started for the garage. "Head into town, maybe room up with what's-his-name...the Air Force kid that keeps tryin' to hit on me." Pepper smiled; Colonel Rhodes had taken to trying making small talk with Andy, working up to perhaps asking her out. Much like the other fighter jocks at Edwards, to be honest.

"I'll give him a call. You two stay safe, all right?" she asked as Andy shouldered her way through the glass door, followed by Tony and herself. Andy manually pulled on her Trinity suit, pausing as she looked inside her helmet while Tony got suited up again. Pepper prodded at her Blackberry, clearing the schedule as requested.

"And-ster? Ready?" Tony asked as he pried up his mask, looking over at her. Andy glanced up, brows furrowed and lips twisted in a faint scowl.

"Mina didn't pull back all her facets," was all Andy said, "either that or she's gotten through the barriers faster than I thought. She's in here."

"But doesn't that mean access?" Pepper asked. The younger woman shrugged.

"Yeah, but so long as this stays dormant. If this bit of Mina goes live..."

"Let's get going before that happens," Tony broke in, clanking over and putting a gauntleted hand on Andy's shoulder. "If anythin' happens, I'll cover your back. You know that, right?" Andy nodded, before, before Pepper knew it, she was on her feet and embracing her brother. Tony gently returned the hug, and she could barely hear him mutter, "Nothin's going to happen to you, Andy. And I mean nothin'."

Pepper didn't dare interrupt as Andy ran at the exit ramp, her rockets roaring to life before she soared out. Tony, however, came over to her. Pepper mentally sighed and looked him in the eye.

"You going to be all right?"

"Yes, I will, Mister Stark."

"Don't you think we've known each other long enough, Miss Potts?"

"I don't know what you mean, Mister Stark." Tony gave her the kind of smile that usually put Pepper on guard, but...somehow, after the couple of months Andy had been around, watching her and Tony interact...Pepper wasn't so afraid anymore. And she did know what he meant.

"You're rather transparent when you try to lie, Pepper."

"I wasn't lying, Mis –" Pepper broke off, realizing what Tony had said. And then she noticed how close he was. "Aren't you a bit close?"

"No. I've tried to get closer, but you always made an excuse." Pepper froze as his armored hand gently touched her cheek, tried to think of something to say to get him to stop...but, somehow, she decided not to.

So when Tony Stark kissed her, Pepper was several things at once: shocked, pleasantly surprised, and, dare she think it, relieved. And when she kissed him back, it just felt right.

And when Tony slammed down his mask and flew up through the tunnel to the outside, Pepper was still smiling, aglow with finally getting her secret liking of Tony out...and he liked her, too. And that...was all right.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Tony didn't dare get out of armor, although Andy had, when they arrived in DC two hours later. He was pacing uncomfortably around Andy's messy apartment, even while Andy was supposedly tapping away in her back room, recovering the antivirus and getting ready to transfer it to the dormant Mina in her suit. Tony just hoped it would work, because, if Mina had this undefeatable virus as part of her programming, there was no knowing who would do what with that kind of access.

He only went outside once, to grab a requested pizza for Andy – which he luckily got for free at the nearest pizza joint, and, when he got back, Tony pried his helmet loose and settled the pizza on the coffee table, walking carefully so as not to make the concrete crack. He even grabbed a couple slices and gulped them down before glancing worriedly at the door to Andy's room.

It was still a bad idea to come all the way out here, leaving Pepper, abandoning the house. Tony did not like the whole situation. Not to mention Andy would've come running as soon as she smelled the pizza.... He got to his feet and clunked over to the door, posted with a cardboard sign scribbled in Sharpie: DO NOT DISTURB. STATE SECRETS BEING DISCOVERED. Tony rolled his eyes before carefully pushing the door open, the rusted hinges creaking before admitting the weak yellowy light from the front room. He frowned as he leaned inside.

"Sis? Andy, you still alive?" he called, slowly walking inside, papers crackling under his feet as Tony approached the bank of five computers. Unlike the neat pentagon in Malibu, these screens were mounted on the wall, haphazardly and at angles with each other. The CPUs were all tucked under a set of three tables, the keyboards on top of the tables. Andy's chair, another one with wheels, was settled at something like a center point. Tony shook his head when he saw her slumped into the chair. Her being asleep would explain a few things...

Tony came up behind the chair, waiting for barely a second before spinning it around. What he had hoped to hear was the startled yelp from his sister and the harsh telling-off he deserved. What he got instead was a pained gasp, and, when Tony stopped the chair in shock, saw Andy, her black eyes wide, as she struggled to breath.

Her glowing blue arc-reactor was gone. The electromagnet was losing its charge.

Andy was dying.

"Andy! No, Andy, what...how...?!" Tony gaped, taking her shoulders in shock. Andy drew a shuddering breath, grasped at his shoulder, and she pulled herself even with Tony's ear.

"R-run....Mina....."

"Now, now, Andy! What a way is that to treat me?" Tony whirled to see Andy's suit standing there, arc-reactor at its heart, visual scanners on...but not being controlled by Andy. It was Mina's voice coming through the speaker, and Tony got to his feet, protectively in front of Andy. Mina took a threatening step closer, chuckling faintly. "And now, you, Tony Stark. Heh, you have no idea what Andy can do...what I can do."

"You're killing her, Mina!" Tony barked. How in hell had an AI overstepped bounds that were finite and absolute? Even he had to make sure that Jarvis' barriers were in place at least every couple of weeks or so. Mina started laughing.

"That's rather the point, isn't it? She's trying to kill me, her original, her only true creation. What?" she asked, noting Tony's semi-shocked expression, "She didn't tell you how she made me? Good! Then perhaps she can die knowing that I surpassed her every expectation." Andy coughed behind Tony, and he turned to see her struggling to stand up, a hand turning around the chair and pushing it ahead of her.

"Like...hell I will..." Andy choked out, before she gritted her teeth and shoved the chair at Mina. Of course, the AI managed to sidestep, but it gave Tony his opening, jumping at the empty suit and ramming into it. The two catapulted out of the window, nearly crushing a passing car below.

Mina managed to slam him into the asphalt before getting airborne, starting to get out the rotary guns before Tony dove for cover. He had to get his helmet, get protection.... Tony dared to load his rocket launcher and fire one off at Mina, sighting straight along his knuckles before shooting. Mina was distracted again, having to loop around the missile before it detonated harmlessly into the air. Tony managed to dash up into Andy's apartment, and grabbed his helmet. He only paused to check on Andy.

She was sprawled on the floor, barely breathing. Tony just knew he wouldn't have time, but he ran to her anyway, rolling her over. Andy's breathing was shallow, eyes half-closed as she fought to stay alive. He shook her a little, hissing, "Andy, c'mon! Don't you go out on me, not now! Not now...oh, God..."

"To...ny...." Tony looked down at his dying sister, suddenly getting a vivid reminder of when Yinsen had been killed, when he was escaping...telling him to not waste two lives. He fought off any tears, even as Andy's grip tightened on him, maybe for the last time. "Keep...Min...a...distracted. Think I...can get the...antivirus in....'fore I –"

"You're not going to die, Andy!" Tony interrupted her. "I – I won't let you die!" Andy managed a weak chuckle, and Tony hugged her quickly. "Please...not after all this. Don't you go again."

"You....selfish jerk....." Andy coughed, might've been laughter. Tony could hear the sound of Mina getting close, but it was still so far away. Andy reached up, tugged on his beard a little. "Go.....I said I'd....find you....go!"

"Hello, mother!" came Mina's mocking voice, and Tony snapped his arm up, blocking the spray of bullets and shielding Andy with the rest of his body. He staggered under the sheer amount spilling at him. Andy glared hard at him, eyes still flickering dangerously.

"Give her....hell!" she gasped, and Tony sighed and nodded, gently lowering Andy and jamming his helmet on before getting up, staring Mina down. The HUD came to life, scanning for weaknesses. He turned it off, he kept the whole damn display off. He couldn't afford distractions.

"My turn."

Tony jumped at Mina again, even as the black and gold suit started reaching towards something in a knee compartment. He scored a few hard hits, even knocking the helmet loose before soaring out through the hole that had been Andy's window. It was startling to look back and see the headless Trinity suit racing after him. But he had to give Andy time, time that she might not have. He reached an even cruising altitude, and watched as Mina sailed up even with him.

"So, this is how you want to get finished off?" Mina asked, despite lacking some form of head. It would be funny if it wasn't such a bad time for it. "Just hovering there, a sitting duck. Lord, this's going to be easy, even without the scanners...." Mina started raising the rotaries, ready to fire...but something jammed. Tony knew who it was.

Least you're goin' down fightin', And-ster.

Tony fired his rockets live, ramming hard into Mina as one arm plunged down the opening, grabbing at the arc-reactor, yanking hard at the power converter. Mina was gasping a little, whether in shock or in surprise he didn't know. But he pried a few of the chords loose before Mina grabbed his shoulder. She was...clinging to him. Like she was struggling to stay alive. The antivirus. Andy got the antivirus.

"Mister...Stark..." Mina gasped. "Tell....her...thanks...."

"Thanks for what?" Tony asked, ready to wrench the reactor loose. Mina chuckled, very faintly.

"For...keeping her...pro...mise..." The suit under Tony stiffened, and he yanked the reactor loose before letting it fall. Mina was...dead. No, worse. Erased. That was...sad. Very, very sad. He looked at the arc-reactor in his hand....Andy!

Tony dropped quickly, bringing his HUD back to life, flying as quick as he could at the moment back to Andy's apartment. The police were already there...a paramedic. No...Andy couldn't be dead, not now, not after this! This was her moment of triumph, she'd defeated her virus, and he'd bought her the time. He landed close by, running for the ambulance, just as the teams got down with a gurney.

A gurney bearing a very pale, and very stiff, Andy Stark.

"No! Wait!" Tony yelled, getting them all to freeze as he stumbled to a halt at Andy's side, wrenching his helmet off and struggling to put the reactor in place, get the charge for the electromagnet going again....

It locked in place.

But Andy didn't move. Tony carefully took her shoulder, shook it. One of the paramedics inched closer. He knew what he'd say, but Tony didn't want to hear it, because Andrea Jacqueline Stark wasn't dead. He knew she wasn't dead!

"Andy! C'mon, you nerd, wake up!" he hissed at her, shaking harder. "Andy, I promised I'd never let anyone hurt you...please, don't make me that much of a failure...."

"Mister Stark," the paramedic said sharply. "Sir, you need to let us take her in. Get her checked out. We can release –"

"She's not dead, do you understand me?!" Tony growled. He didn't want to believe it. He refused to believe it...but everything pointed in that direction. Slowly, Tony felt the tears come to his eyes. No.

But Andy...was.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Miss Stark?"

"Heya, Lieutenant Matsuo. How's my info getting' treated?"

"That's what I called to tell you. They don't exactly trust the info, but dropping your name got them looking into it."

"Sam, why did you have to tell them the source...?!"

"They wouldn't be looking into it now, otherwise! Andy, why –"

"It's my brother, for Chrissakes! I'm not lettin' them keep him, and I'll kill myself if they kill him!"

"Andy, you haven't talked to him in years. What makes you think he'll appreciate it, what with all his antics..."

"Maybe he won't. But I made him a promise, Sam. And if there's one thing about us Starks...we keep our promises. At least, I do."

"I can try and get Rhodes involved. The two of us can probably get the search teams moving a bit faster. I'll promise you that much, Andy."

"Thanks, Sam. I owe you one."

"You still owe me for covering your tail when you hacked the sim's targeting computers. Especially when you hacked into my com line."

"Okay, so add it to my tab! It was important, anyway!"

"It was important to interrupt my last training flight so you could tell me that you had received your first email?"

"Don't rub it in, Matsuo. Be lucky that I've been looking out for ya."

"Shut up, Andy! I'll let you know what happens, all right?"

"Sure thing, Sam. And I'll get you any more info I can dig up."

Andrea Stark hung up the phone, sighing and tugging at her ponytail before leaning back. In front of her were four computers, varying in age and function, and their related keyboards haphazardly settled on the tables in front of her. Behind Andy, in her dingy apartment's living room, was the TV, tuned to national news so as to keep abreast of anything that could get reported about Tony. She had to be, in case it gave her another lead. Andy frowned before pulling herself towards the newest of her computers, reaching in the opposite direction to grab its keyboard before slipping into the Stark Industries database.

Andy had gone through Tony's files with a fine-toothed comb, trying to find any ties with the terrorist group claiming responsibility for the kidnap – Ten Rings – but Andy hadn't checked anybody else. She doubted that Tony's assistant would do anything like that...but she wouldn't put it past 'good old' Obi Stane. That was the reason why she made an immediate beeline for Stane's files, going first into his communications; emails and the like. Working from the bottom up, it took Andy awhile to find any evidence. But she found a message, with one serious encryption. She smirked; it was a Trinity-based code, easy for her to crack. And the code strands would never know the difference.

Andy timed herself, laughing at the short, four-point-six second hack time. That was a new record for her, and she kept chuckling in triumph as she downloaded the video, decompressing the audio, buffering the video...it took long enough that Andy could shove her chair towards the microwave and the freezer and cook up a Hot Pocket before returning. The video was ready after she finished her snack.

Andy nearly threw up that Hot Pocket in shock and horror.

The video showed no less than seven men, six of them Ten Rings goons. The one in the center was hooded with a burlap sack, and Andy noted that there were wires trailing through the neck of his sweaty undershirt. Andy didn't have any translation tech, so she had to live with the Arabic. Andy was able to pick out 'Tony Stark' a few times, and received the worst shock when she saw the hood get torn away.

It was Tony. He was alive! Andy fought down the tears of joy, so excited to see her brother. Prisoner he might be...but she'd help rescue him.

It took a little while, but Andy eventually ran the Arabic audio through an online translator. And she was pissed off. Not like that she hadn't since Stane decided to take the virus, but now, Andy would personally strangle Stane for this.

He'd virtually hired Ten Rings to kill Tony, but, now that they knew their target, they demanded a raised price. And God knew what those bastards were doing to him in whatever cave they had Tony tucked away in. Well, Andy could play it that way, too.

She attached the vid to an email that she sent to her friend, Lieutenant Sam Matsuo. She was good at figuring out that kinda thing. Then she sent a surprisingly short email to Stane; a single sentence, despite Andy's ease in waxing loquacious.

YOU DO ANYTHING TO KEEP TONY FROM COMING HOME, YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS' MESSAGE HITS THE NET.

Andy nodded, grinning with fierce pride. That'd show Stane what happened if one Stark was threatened. She had promised Tony that she'd always find him. And she would make good on that promise.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Here it is! The end! -Sigh of relief- Anyway, thanks to everyone who's read...and keep watch for a new story in this realm coming soon....no promises, though....

* * *

**CHAPTER 11**

"Tony, if you're listening to this...then I must've somehow done something pretty damn stupid to go out before you. Wow, that's kinda morbid, the younger sibling kickin' the bucket before the older....

"All that aside, there's stuff I gotta tell you. And, if you haven't somehow made a magical one-eighty on personality and don't care, then, yes, my tiny scrap of the family fortune's yours now. Great for you. And also, uh, my mainframe's wide open for your techies over at the company to try and crack open. If they can, then you'll have some very pretty things to play with. Market how you like, just put my name on the patents.

"Now, important stuff. Two things. If I've died because of the whole Trinity fiasco, and you're still getting earfuls from Obi, then you better hear my side. Y'know, when Dad died, how I kinda...avoided you for awhile? Didn't come over, never let you know I was around? Well, there was a reason. I was trying to keep myself away from Obadiah. You remember how he was interested in Trinity, when you graduated? He paid me some big bucks for me to refine it. But the more I perfected the program, the more it became apparent that it was transforming into a virus. Worse, it was undefeatable. There would be no antivirus, just infiltrate, trash the files, then boil the hard drive before moving on.

"Three-quarters of the reason I came to the funeral was to say bye to Dad, even though he and I never got on like he did with you. The last fourth was that I wanted to meet Obi and tell him that it wasn't working out with Trinity. I had the disk ready to prove it to him, but he wouldn't listen right then. Instead, he gave me his hotel address and room number, told me to meet him for dinner and drinks. Like I would drink anything....

"When I went to his room, he still wouldn't listen. I laid out my case, told him that in all the trails and sims, Trinity became a devastating virus with each refinement. But then he gave me a glass of water. And there was something in it. I....I know what he did to me, when I was blacked out. But then I woke up, half-naked, out on the street with the disk missing, I knew that he was taking my project into his hands. He wanted a virus. I don't know why, but he did. So the checks stopped coming. There was nothing for me to do.

"And I never told you because I was afraid that you wouldn't believe me and stand up to Stane. You and him got on too well, I didn't think you'd let your sister in edgeways.

"The other thing...it was, what, five months you were in Afghanistan? Six? And then a couple of days before the Air Force rescued you? Guess who gave them the coordinates after tracing down where they took you. You don't have to glorify my name, Tony, but, hey, some recognition would be nice after being in your shadow all my life. I can see the headline: Tony Stark's Kid Sister Admits to Rescuing Famous Brother. Or some such nonsense. On second thought, don't tell anybody. I hate the press. You wanna thank anybody, you thank Major Matsuo; she was my contact, and she was the one who saw the final location first before shipping it to your guy...whatever his name is....

"So, in short, uh, you're getting everything of mine. If my bike gets outta the shop, yeah, you get that, too. And...well, consider my promise fulfilled. I've watched out for ya, always found out where you were and what you were up to, for the most part...and so yeah. Even though Dad didn't encourage me, we always competed for favor, and, well...I guess it's just better it worked out this way.

"So...bye, I guess. Won't be hearing from me ever again. God that's morbid, okay, cutting the transmission before I really embarrass myself...."

The voice faded, and Tony had to work very, very hard to not cry. It just wouldn't make sense, for a guy with his kind of reputation to start crying. But Pepper, with that amazing perception of hers, got a hint that he was barely keeping himself together and gently hugged him from behind. Tony took a long, deep breath and squeezed her hands before managing to speak.

"I never thought…..that Andy'd…."

"Done what she did?" Pepper finished for him. Tony nodded, and he felt his chest starting to ache. For a brief second, he thought that there was a problem with his electromagnet, but he realized that it was his actual heart aching. He missed Andy. He wouldn't get to hear her call him a jerk, yell at him for being so stupid that he overlooked tiny details. He wouldn't get to be right next to her when she screwed up, to bail her out, wouldn't have to work to keep her safe from getting into too much trouble....

"Sir? There's a message for you, downstairs," Jarvis interrupted Tony's thoughts. Message? Downstairs? Probably Rhodey, then. He stood up from the sofa, giving Pepper's hands one last squeeze before venturing down into the garage.

The message didn't even need to be delivered. Tony was back up the stairs thirty seconds later, yelling for Pepper, grinning from ear to ear before dragging her downstairs with him. And the both of them agreed...the message was very good news indeed.

THREE WEEKS LATER...

British Columbia was cold, in fall. At least the suit had an internal temperature control, so the pilot didn't even feel the cold. But the HUD gave up the temperature anyway, and it was...irksome.

The mostly-black figure shoved the last few branches out of the way before spotting the cabin, just like the reports said. A faint sigh issued from the helmet before summoning up the specs on the fellow that supposedly lived here. Anger issues, this one, if the whole wreck in New York a couple days ago was this guy's - and another, who was, hopefully, really deeply iced down – fault. Slowly, the figure inched closer before peering through a window at the front.

He was really very average-looking, with tousled brown hair, t-shirt, jeans, and hiking boots. If it hadn't been for the meditation position, the watcher might very well have thought he was a perfectly happy hermit. However, a few quick focuses in – especially on his clenched fists, and the blood pressure monitor on his left arm – warned the watcher as to where the danger signs would come. But there was no point in just watching unless they actually talked...

The figure rapped armored knuckles on the wooden door, and the man inside – Bruce Banner, if the files read right – soon opened the door. He frowned slightly as he looked the figure at his doorstep up and down, and the person within the suit knew he had to be wondering what the hell someone like this was doing someplace that was basically untraceable.

"Uh...can I help you?"

"Doctor Banner, right?" the figure asked, head tilting slightly. He nodded. "I have an offer for you."

"Mind telling me who you are, first, and how you found me?"

The figure chuckled, before prying up the black and gold mask over her face. Dark eyes glittered smartly as she smirked, face lit with an extra blue glow from the miniature arc-reactor in her chest.

"Andrea Stark. You can call me Andy, though. As to the whole rest of it...well, it'll take awhile. Mind if I come in?"


End file.
